They Shall Mount Up with Wings
by Dana Hale
Summary: The Power Team took a serious blow from Dread's forces.  How will they rise up again to even the score?  Jon/Jennifer shipper friendly.
1. Chapter 1- Retribution II Revisited

They Shall Mount Up with Wings

By: Dana Hale

Disclaimer: Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future belongs to Landmark Entertainment Corporation. No infringement intended.

* * *

><p>Captain Jonathon Power was known as a vivacious Resistance leader who vowed to protect human life, to defeat the Dread Empire, and to restore humanity and life to what it was before the Metal Wars. He was always one to think of himself as strong, courageous, capable. But hearing Jennifer's strained voice from miles away over the intercom as she whimpered out his name through a wave of pain, he felt completely powerless.<p>

The Power Team had been caught off guard and lied to by an informant. And that lie led them straight into the trap set by Dread. Their secret hidden hideout, their home base that was so meticulously built by Jonathan's father during the birth of the Resistance, was no longer secret or hidden. Dread now had the codes to the transit gate, and he had sent sixteen troopers led by the Biodread known as Blastarr to worm their way in for a surprise attack.

Jonathan knew an attack on the Power Base by Dread's forces had always been within the realm of possibility. But now it was a horrifying reality, and Jennifer was the only team member currently at the Base to defend it, and she was in trouble. He had told her to get out, to save herself. But she never could follow orders.

Jonathan used to think that the worst thing that could happen would be Dread getting inside the Power Base to gain knowledge of their secret technologies. It would bring an end to the Resistance, an end to everything that he had fought so hard for his entire life. But now, Jonathon was paralyzed with fear because he realized there was something much more important at stake- the life of Corporal "Pilot" Jennifer Chase. If he lost her, he knew it would be the end of _him_. She meant more to him than he had been willing to admit, and now the truth was hitting him square in the eyes. In this moment he was forced to feel what he had been pushing aside for so long; the depth of his love for Jennifer. Getting her out of the Base alive was the only thing that mattered to him.

Captain Power and the rest of his team were five minutes away in the Jumpship, racing toward the Base in a frantic rescue attempt. But Jennifer didn't have five minutes. She had already taken several hits from the armed troopers, although she eventually was able to take them all down one-by-one with her blaster gun. But she was defenseless against Blastarr's unrelenting deadly laser beams shooting out from his machine gun-like fingers. After being peppered with his lasers numerous times, this last assault was too big of a hit for her power suit to take. The jolt sent her flying backwards, crushing her hard into the concrete wall, taking not only her breath away but all the energy from her power suit as well. The pain was excruciating. Every cell in her body was on fire from the burn of the lasers.

Somehow she got away from Blastarr and crawled into the sub-control room, sealing herself in for a respite before Blastarr would no doubt find a way in. She heard Jonathon desperately calling for her over the intercom and she knew she needed to tell him her next move, what she was planning on doing. She was running out of time; she knew her wounds were fatal. So she pushed herself up from the floor to reach the button to open communications with the Jumpship. When she called out his name to answer him, his fear became uncontainable. She couldn't disguise her pain and he knew that she was badly injured.

"I have to blow the pow...the...power source...it's the only way," she grunted out over the intercom between painful haggard breaths.

Jonathon could feel her struggle to stay conscious. His tormented mind conjured up unwanted images of her hurt and bleeding, dying. It was pure torture for him to be so close yet so far away from her when she was hurt. He knew she was trying with all her might not to give in to the pain. He heard tenacity in her weakened voice, a fight to stay alive for just a few more minutes to become the savior for the Resistance.

But as a Captain, that was his job. The Captain is the one that is supposed to go down with the ship. He was not going to let her do it this way. He loved her too much. There was no way in hell he was going to allow her to commit suicide for the sake of the Resistance. The Base could be rebuilt, they could regroup somewhere else, start over. But Jennifer was irreplaceable, and he couldn't live without her.

"NO! There's another way...Jennifer, just hang on. We're five minutes out. We're coming to get you. Hang on...we'll get you out and then we'll blow the Base from the outside with the Jumpship's missiles."

When he received no insubordinate reply, not even a quick protest, he assumed she had lost the fight to stay conscious.

"Jennifer?" he retched out in a panic. He waited with heightened anxiety for her to respond, but he was met with cold silence. Jonathon swallowed hard. This was not happening. He had to get to her fast. He had to get to her NOW. It became a frenzied mantra in his head: I have to get to her…I have to get to her…I have to get to her…

Turning his attention to their substitute pilot he growled, "Hawk, can't you get this thing to fly any faster?"

"At this point I can fly faster than this pathetic excuse for an aircraft," Major "Hawk" Matthew Masterson replied. "Let me go get a head start. I'll find and distract Blastarr while you go in and get Pilot."

"Affirmative!" Captain agreed. "Set the ship on autopilot, maximum burn, and then go suit up. Scout, get busy on scrambling the codes to the transit gate. No one else comes through, got it?"

"Already on it, Captain," Scout replied.

As Hawk powered up and prepared to fly out of the Jumpship, Captain met up with him in the back of the ship. Placing a hand on Hawk's shoulder to stop him in place, he held the eyes of his longtime friend and confidant with a look that exposed his fear and desperation.

"Matt..."

"You don't have to tell me, Jon. I know how important she is to you. She's important to all of us."

"You can't possibly know how important she is to me…"

"You think the rest of us don't notice how you two feel about each other? The way you two were dancing in each other's arms the other night? You're kidding yourself, Jon, if you think that kiss you slipped her during our mission to Volcania was just for good luck."

"You know about that?"

"The guys told me. They saw you."

Jonathan closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. "I know, Matt, I know," he replied with a sigh, defeated. "I didn't know how to tell her, if it's right…if we should…now I'm just scared that I'll never get the chance to tell her…"

"Look, we're going to get her out alive. Blastarr's as good as dead. And when this battle is over, you can tell her how you really feel. I know she feels the same. I can see it in her eyes when she looks at you."

"We've got to get to her. She's running out of time. Go. We'll be right behind you." Captain slapped Hawk's shoulder and squeezed. Then he watched as Hawk exited the Jumpship. With his rocket boosters energized, Hawk propelled himself through the air at lightening speed toward the direction of the Base.

"Tank! E.T.A?" Captain shouted, heading back to his chair.

"Three minutes."

"Scout, you got those codes for the transit gate scrambled?"

"Yes sir! Piece of cake. No one's getting in."

"Ok," Captain replied, taking a deep breath and thinking about the next step. It was getting difficult for him to stay focused. "Tank, you're going in with me. Scout, you stay parked in the Jumpship. Keep a lookout, stay in contact; we may need to make a quick get-away."

"Understood, Captain," Scout replied.

Tank and Captain went to the back of the ship and gave the simultaneous command to bring their power suits to life:

"Power on!"

"I don't care about the Base. We do whatever we have to do to get Pilot out alive," Captain barked.

"Let's blow those metal monsters to pieces!" Tank exclaimed.


	2. Chapter 2- That's Our Girl!

After hearing the Captain tell her to hold on, Jennifer momentarily lost consciousness as the pain became too much, her body slowly failing from the effects of the internal bleeding bubbling inside of her. But not long after, a noise awakened her from the haze. Blastarr was trying to break through the sealed doors which were her only protection at the moment. His lasers would eventually break through the solid steel. Knowing that her team were on their way and that they would do anything they could to get to her, blowing the power source was not an option anymore; she didn't know how long she had been unconscious. For all she knew they could already be inside the Base looking for her and she didn't want to risk killing them.

Jennifer scanned the room for any advantage she could get to borrow some time. She crawled in agony over to the cabinets near the floor that housed their extra ammunition. She opened the cabinet closest to her and shuddered in relief when she saw the box of thermal grenades. Her vision went blurry as she reached for one. She felt herself getting weaker by the minute. Her thoughts turned to Jonathon. She had to stay strong. She hoped with all her might that she would be able to see him again, to finish what she had wanted to tell him- that she loved him.

* * *

><p>Hawk arrived at the Base within 60 seconds. Running through the hallways, he had to be careful not to trip over all of the twisted metal of the troopers that Pilot massacred and left as garbage on the ground. "That's our girl," he smiled and said to himself, impressed but not surprised that she was able to take them all out on her own. He kicked one of their severed heads out of his way like a soccer ball. "Serves ya right, you metal buffoon."<p>

But his little celebration quickly dissipated when he spotted Blastarr breaking through to the sub-control room. Hawk knew that was Pilot's last known location. If she was in there hurt without her power suit, he knew that she was done for if he didn't do something quick.

"Surrender by order of Lord Dread!" Blastarr was heard saying.

Hawk ran as fast as he could toward Blastarr and heard Jennifer yell, "GO TO HELL!"

Just when Hawk was about to fire at Blastarr from behind, Jennifer threw a grenade straight at the monster. The explosion of the grenade took Blastarr by surprise and brought him down to his knees. The shockwave of the blast was enough to send Hawk sailing backwards through the hallway and out of commission.

When the smoke cleared, Blastarr was dazed but he still had it in him to call out a threat. "You'll pay for that, Organic…"

The Biodread tried to get up but enough damage had been done to the lower half of his robotic body that he no longer could stand. He raised one arm towards Jennifer with fingers outstretched, aiming his lasers directly at her.

"Die, traitor!" He took a shot but the laser beams shorted out and did not reach their destination. Looking down at his hand, he was frustrated as he tried to figure out why his lasers weren't working. Then he looked up and saw that Jennifer had another grenade. "NOOOOOOOO!"

With her last remaining ounce of strength, Jennifer pulled the pin and threw the grenade right into Blastarr's neck. The bomb did its work and detonated on contact, decapitating the monster's head and effectively ending the battle. Jennifer collapsed on the floor and lost her fight with the pain. She felt herself fade away, her heartbeat slowing, sending her to the edge of death.

"Hawk!"

Captain and Tank sprinted over to their teammate who had just woken up from his unconscious state. Hawk extended his hand up and the Captain took it and pulled him up off the hallway floor.

"You alright?" Tank asked.

Hawk looked himself over and noted that his power suit was still intact. "Yeah," he said slowly, rubbing his neck and moving his sore shoulders, wondering what had happened to him.

"Where's Jennifer?" Captain blurted out.

Hawk snapped back to the present. "Oh my God…Jennifer…when I got here she had already taken out the whole squadron of tin cans but she was still fighting Blastarr…there was an explosion…"

He took off running towards the sub-control room with Captain and Scout hot on his heels. At the entrance of the blast doors, they found a headless Blastarr lying on the ground. He wouldn't be going anywhere for a while. It took the Captain all but a split-second to spot Jennifer's lifeless body slumped next to the ammunition cabinet.

"Jennifer!"

Jonathan powered down his suit and ran to her, falling hard on his knees next to her. Tears welled up in his eyes as he thought her to be dead, but to be certain he placed an unsteady hand to her neck to feel for a pulse. Her eyes were closed and blood was seeping out of the corner of her mouth. She was ghostly pale.

"Is she…" Tank couldn't form the words.

"I feel a faint pulse," Jonathan choked out. He placed both of his hands on her face, willing her to open her eyes and tell him that she was fine. "Jennifer? Can you hear me?"

Hawk got out his medical scanner and assessed her injuries.

"How bad is she? What does it say?" Jonathan pressed.

Hawk stared at the scanner disbelief. Jonathan's impatience grew.

"Matt, tell me what's wrong!"

"Scanner is showing 5% chance of survival. Concussion, broken bones, extensive internal bleeding, organ damage. Jon, I don't think she can survive this."

"No! We can't give up on her! I'm not giving up on her!" Jonathan wouldn't accept defeat. She wasn't dead yet.

Tank bent down and held Jennifer's small limp hand in his large strong one. The gentle giant looked up at the Captain. "How can I help?"

Jonathon's mind was numb but he knew he had to get a grip and come up with a plan. He looked up at Tank. "Go get Scout. We need you guys to bring in all the extra medical supplies that are on board the ship. Hawk, go to the Med Bay and report any damage. Hopefully Blastarr and his troopers left it intact; we're going to need it."

Tank hurried off to follow orders.

"Jon, she needs a surgeon. We can't possibly do everything here that needs to be done for her," Hawk said softly, treading carefully as the voice of reason.

"I know," Jonathon replied somberly, holding her hand to his lips, not being able to take his eyes off her. "But we don't have time to take her anywhere. And Dread could be waiting for us on the other side of the transit gate if we leave now. We have no choice but to at least try to stabilize her here first before we do anything else. Do you know if Mentor is still online?"

"I'm sorry Jon, but Mentor's gone. I saw the destruction on my way in. We're dead in the water here."

Hawk was surprised that Jon didn't show any added emotion over losing Mentor. He just kept his eyes on Jennifer.

"What about the Base? Are we still going to blow it?" Hawk asked.

"We'll have to wait and see. We seem to be secure at the moment…because Jennifer…" Captain stopped himself from saying the rest as he could no longer keep his emotions in check.

"…single-handedly defeated a whole squadron of troopers AND Blastarr," Hawk finished, staring in awe at the woman who risked her life to save the Base. "I gotta hand it to her, Jon. The girl's got guts. She's strong. Maybe I was wrong; maybe she _can_ make it through this."

Hawk watched as Jonathon swiped away the blood from the corner of her mouth with his thumb and leaned down to place a long-held kiss to her forehead. "She has to, Matt. She has to make it through this."

"I'll go see about the Med Bay," Hawk said reverently, leaving to give Jonathon some space to be alone with Jennifer.


	3. Chapter 3- Too Late for Confessions?

Jonathon didn't notice that Hawk had left. Caressing her face, he was startled when Jennifer began to stir and moan. She turned her head into the feel of his hand.

"Jennifer?" he called with renewed hope in his voice.

She slowly opened her eyes and looked up into his worried face.

"Jon?"

At the sound of her voice, Jonathon came undone. A large tear rolled down his face as he looked into her eyes and gently pulled her closer to him in his lap.

"I'm here," he said firmly. He managed to smile and squeezed her hand.

"Never thought…I'd see …Captain Power…crying."

"I don't want to lose you," he answered, his voice rough. "Why didn't you follow my orders? I told you to get out. You should have gotten out, Jennifer. I never wanted you to risk-"

She cut him off. "Had to save…Resistance…not let Dread get…Base."

Jonathon shook his head. "No…I don't care about the Base. I…Jennifer, I care about _you_. I love you. _So much_."

"I love…you…wanted to…tell you…" She rushed to tell him everything in her distress, but every word, every breath was difficult. It was getting so hard for her to breathe. She knew she was dying. Tears quickly rolled down her face, both out of emotion from hearing his confession and from the fear and pain that was overtaking her. She closed her eyes and heaved violently as she tried to gulp in more air.

"Shhhh…..easy, take it easy…I know," he replied, brushing her tears away. "I know you were trying to tell me the other night in your quarters. You and I should have had this talk a long time ago. I'm sorry I didn't have the courage to tell you sooner. This damn war…the timing…I'm your commanding officer and I know I shouldn't…but I couldn't help falling in love with you, couldn't stop it from happening. I don't want us to ignore these feelings anymore. So no more holding it back, okay? What's the point of fighting this war if we don't have something to hope for, someone to share the future with? We're going to have a future together, Jennifer. You and me. That's what we're fighting for."

It all came pouring out of him so fast. The truth came out so easily now. He had to let her know how he felt.

A surge of pain shot through her entire body. She clenched his shirt with her fist and buried her head in his chest, letting out a yell, trying to ride out the sting. He did his best to console her through it and hold her tight, but it horrified him to see her in so much pain. To be able to finally tell her how he felt about her and then to think that she could die in his arms; he had never been so scared.

"Jennifer, please, you have to hold on. Just hold on, we're getting set up right now to help you. Hawk's gonna fix you up and you're gonna be fine, good as new. Please…stay with me…" He kissed her cheek and then placed his palm to the side of her face, holding her head tight against his chest, rocking her gently.

"Captain!" Tank shouted, barreling down the hallway. "I've got the supplies!"

"Tank, hurry up and get down here! She's awake!"

Tank reached the couple and dropped the stretcher that he had in one arm and the medical bag in the other.

"Where's Scout?" Captain inquired.

"Pilot's skybike was giving out a signal from the rendezvous point. He went to go retrieve it."

"Jennifer?" Jonathan questioned her.

"Mentor's…backup…extra…suits…"

"You followed evac procedure and then you went back in?" he asked in amazement, inwardly frustrated with her blatant disobedience of yet another one of his orders. She could have been on that skybike, unharmed, if it wasn't for her damned stubbornness.

Jennifer nodded her head slightly. "Thank…me later..." she joked just as another wave of pain hit her. She gritted her teeth and let out a muffled cry.

"Tank, she's hurting real bad. We've got to do something fast."

Tank opened the medical kit and went straight for the syringe filled with a sedative. He stuck the needle in her arm and pushed the plunger down, sending warm liquid into her bloodstream that immediately made all of her senses go numb. She closed her eyes and tried to relaxed back into Jonathon's arms, but she was still having difficulty breathing. Tank grabbed an oxygen mask and placed it over her mouth and nose.

Hawk approached quickly and reported. "Med Bay is untouched," he said, out of breath from running.

"Good," Jonathon replied. "Let's get her moved."

The three men placed her gently with care on the stretcher. Tank and Hawk hoisted her up, and Jonathon gave her one last kiss before they started heading to the Med Bay. "I love you," he whispered in her ear. Her eyes drooped closed as the side effects of the sedative sent her into a deep sleep. All along the way, Jonathon never let go of her hand.

* * *

><p>Scout shoved the backup for Mentor into the computer system's sub frame receptacle that was in the Med Bay. "Let's hope this works," he prayed as he pushed the buttons on the console to get it to boot up.<p>

Hawk was already busy hooking up Jennifer to the various medical machines that worked in tune with the sub frame so that Mentor would be able to analyze her vitals. She was sleeping soundly lying on the gurney.

"Mentor?" Jonathon called out, impatiently waiting as the likeness of his father started to appear in the fog of the vacuum tube.

"One moment," Mentor answered. "Re-establishing connections."

"That's a good sign," Tank said, patting Scout on the back.

"Online, Captain. All systems, memory, data flows, and file structures accounted for," Mentor finished.

Getting right down to business, Jonathon gave out the instruction. "Mentor, we need you to analyze Pilot's condition. Is there a way you can stabilize her?"

"Analyzing…" Mentor folded his hands and closed his eyes as he processed the information being fed to him through the medical machines.

All four men looked at each other in nervous anticipation while Mentor did his work. After a moment, Mentor had the answer they were waiting for, although it wasn't one that they wanted to hear.

"The situation is grave, I'm afraid. Not much I can do other than keep her comatose to control the pain. Broken bones include numerous ribs, left wrist, and the L4 vertebrae in the lumbar region of her back. There is some mild brain swelling due to a concussion. To get her stabilized, she needs immediate surgery on her spleen, liver, and right lung to stop the internal bleeding. Even then, chances of survival are slim."

Jonathon dejectedly walked over to where Jennifer lay. He already knew her situation was bad, but hearing the details from Mentor made him shudder with the realization that she may never open her eyes again, he could never hear her voice again. He could lose her forever. He shook himself out of thinking that way. No, he had to stay hopeful. He wasn't going to give up on her. He turned and looked toward Hawk.

"Hawk, what's your experience with surgical procedures?"

"Whoah, now wait just a minute. Sure I know some things, more than you guys do, and I know I've been unofficially labeled as the 'go-to' guy around here for fixing minor injuries, but I'm no doctor, Jon. I've never opened anyone up before if that's what you're getting at. It's like I've said all along; we need to get her to The Passages. There are surgeons there that can-"

Captain crossed his arms and looked hard at Hawk. "You heard Mentor. She needs surgery _immediately_. We don't have time."

Hawk nervously looked around the room at Tank and Scout. They were all staring at him.

"No. No. Noooo way. Captain, if you're asking what I think you're asking, I'm not capable of…"

"You're the only chance she's got right now, Matt. We can get a video uplink established with one of the surgeons at The Passages. They can talk you through it every step of the way."

Hawk just stood there, shaking his head, feeling completely inadequate, wishing this was nothing but a bad dream.

"She's like a daughter to me. I can't…what if…"

Jonathon approached Hawk, put a hand on his shoulder, and spoke in a low voice. "She's going to die right here in front of us if you don't at least try. If it doesn't work, I'll know you did your best. None of us will blame you. But you have to at least try. I trust you. _Please_. I'm not commanding you. As your friend, I'm _begging_ you."

Hawk walked over to the gurney and grazed his fingers over Jennifer's cheek. He couldn't imagine the ramifications if the Team lost her. She was such an invaluable member. And they all loved her in their own special way. She just had this way of instantly capturing their hearts when they met her. She had already survived so much, and being so young and only a few years out from underneath Dread's brainwashing, there was still so much she had yet to experience in life…like sharing it with someone who deeply loved her, having a shot at real happiness whenever this war was won, starting a family of her own. She deserved all of that. How could he not give her that chance?

"Alright. I'll do it."

Captain nodded. "Scout, set up communications with The Passages. Make sure the link is secure. We can't have Dread picking up any signals and interfering."

"Come on Big Guy," Hawk grabbed Tank by the arm and pulled him toward the medical instruments. "I'm going to need an assistant."


	4. Chapter 4- Dr Matt Masterson, PHD

The Med Bay was a busy place with the Team quickly making the final preparations for Jennifer's surgery. Scout was working at the computer terminal initiating the uplink to The Passages. Hawk and Tank were scrubbing up and setting up the tools and machines they were going to use. Mentor was synthesizing more of Jennifer's blood type so that they had a good supply on hand. And the Captain was at Jennifer's side keeping vigil, making sure there were no drastic changes in her vitals.

"We're in," Scout announced. "I just finished talking with a team of their surgeons and they are willing and ready to assist. I'm sending them Pilot's stats now."

"We're almost ready," Tank answered.

Hawk glanced over at Jennifer and noticed how Jonathon was still clinging to her. He hadn't left her side since they found her. He held her hand like it was the only thing he had left in the world.

Walking over to Scout, Hawk whispered to him, "Hey, do me a favor, will ya? Get him out of here." Hawk motioned with his head in the direction of Jonathon. "He can't be in here when I'm doing this. He'll only be in the way. Keep him busy. This is going to take a while."

Scout watched as Jonathon threaded his fingers delicately through Jennifer's hair. The Captain was in his own element ignoring everything around him except for the sleeping woman in front of him. His brow was furrowed as he stared worriedly at her face.

"He really loves her, doesn't he," Scout stated.

"Yeah. Too bad it took something like this to make him finally admit it. If she doesn't make it, I worry about how he's going to handle it."

"I'll try my best to keep him occupied. You better get started. Push this button here when you're ready. They're waiting for you."

Hawk was nervous. He couldn't believe he was really going to do this. Scout noticed his unease.

"You'll do great," Scout encouraged and patted Hawk on the back as he excused himself to walk over to Jonathon.

"Captain, they're going to get started. You and I should go check on Blastarr. He's not going to stay down forever."

"I'm not leaving her."

Scout figured on that answer, so he tried a different tactic. "We need to make sure the Base stays secure. You don't want Blastarr to come barging in here, do you? And Dread is probably trying to track him. You can keep her safe by coming with me."

The Captain was still reluctant to leave, but he knew Scout was right. And he had been thinking about making a new rule- no one goes off on a mission by themselves.

"Alright," Captain answered quietly. He held her hand up to his lips for a kiss and then released it, resting her arm down next to her side. He didn't want a long goodbye. He didn't want to dwell on the fact that this could be the last time he might see her alive. He nodded at Hawk. "You'll let me know as soon as-"

"Of course," Hawk assured.

So without looking back, the Captain turned to Scout and they headed out.

* * *

><p>"You thinkin' what I'm thinkin', Capt'n?" Scout asked as they stopped to stare at the pile of dismantled troopers.<p>

"That after all the battles we've fought with these tin cans, we've never once had the time to take one into our possession and rip it apart, piece by piece. See how it functions, how it's programmed. Know its strengths and weaknesses."

"Exactly. We could pull their memory banks, too. All sixteen of them. We could get tons of information on Dread."

For the first time since the attack, the Captain grinned. He liked the idea of finally being able to get a heads-up on Dread's plans. "Sounds like a project for you and Pil-" he cut himself off and his smile faded as he realized the implications of that statement. He got quiet and stared down at the floor.

"Hey," Scout touched him on the arm to get his attention. "She'll pull through. She's the strongest person I know. Even stronger than Tank- just don't tell him I said so."

Jonathon cracked a smile at his joke but it disappeared off his face as quickly as it had appeared. He remained quiet and didn't say anything in return.

"You know, what she did for us could turn this war around real easy," Scout continued. "We not only have these guys to play with," he said, pointing down to the troopers, "but we have Blastarr. If we can stop his regeneration, we can take him out of the picture for good."

"I don't know whether to kiss her or strangle her for doing what she did."

"That's Pilot for ya. Stubborn as all get-out. But she knew what she was doing. This is a war and it was her choice. Truth is every one of us on this team is willing to lay down our lives to take Dread out of commission. If it would have been me instead of Pilot, I would have done the same thing. And you would have too, and you know it."

"It _should_ have been me instead of her."

"It shouldn't have to be _anybody_. That's why we need to get this war won, and soon."

"Amen to that."

The two men continued on to the sub control room. Blastarr's torso was still smoldering, lying in the middle of the doorway. His head had been tossed like a football yards away across the room.

"Hooooeeeeey! She got him good, didn't she?" Scout exclaimed. He bent down with his scanner to take a look at the torso. "I'm not picking up any frequencies from him, so I don't think Dread's tracking him. No red lights. I don't see any signs of regeneration."

"Yet," Jonathon added. "It's only a matter of time. Can you get him permanently disabled before it happens?"

Scout smirked. "Oh you know I'm all about doing THAT…and maybe even more…"

"What are you thinking?"

* * *

><p><em>Jennifer rolled up her pant legs and sat down at the edge of the dock. She couldn't wait to dip her toes into the still cool water. It looked so clean and refreshing; she had never seen anything like it before. She wasn't too clear on how she got here, but she felt at peace and somehow she knew she wasn't alone. It had been a hot summer day, and the sun was setting behind the peak of the mountain, smearing the sky with brilliant pink and purple hues. Dropping her feet down into the lake, she watched as the water displaced in concentric circles around her ankles, breaking the glass-like appearance of the surface.<em>

_She felt the dock move in an up- and-down motion as Jon came walking towards her in his bare feet. "You want some company?"_

_Jennifer had to laugh at how polite he always was around her. "You know, you really don't have to ask as long as that company is you."_

_He smiled and sat down next to her, plunking his feet in the lake as well. She swung her feet back and forth in the water and placed her hands behind her on the dock. Leaning back a bit to see his face, she wondered what he had on his mind. He seemed more relaxed than usual._

"_Beautiful evening isn't it?" he asked._

"_I never thought it could be this beautiful. Is this how it was when you were a kid, before the Metal Wars?"_

"_Yeah. But as a kid I guess I didn't really notice the beauty of it. I was more interested in going fishing with my dad."_

"_Maybe you could take me sometime. You'd have to teach me how, though."_

"_I'd like that. Actually, I was hoping we could spend more time together."_

"_I'm glad to hear you say that. I've wanted that for a long time."_

"_Well Jennifer Chase…just how long have you been holding out on me?" he teased._

_She sat back up and put her hands in her lap, suddenly feeling shy but happy at the same time._

"_I second-guessed myself a lot. Even after all this time of being away from the Dread Youth, it's still hard for me to distinguish certain human emotions, especially when it comes to love. There are so many different kinds of love. Sometimes I would get confused, and then other times it would be so perfectly clear. I finally just decided to stop fighting it and that's when it all came into focus._

"_It was like that for me, too."_

"_Really?"_

"_Understanding emotions can be complicated for anyone, not just for someone like you. But now that we both know how we feel about each other, let's not waste any more time."_

_Jon stood up and held out his hand to her. "C'mon."_

"_Where are we going?"_

"_You'll see."_


	5. Chapter 5- Will Blastarr Rest in Pieces?

"Really? He even blew up our Christmas tree? That's just rude," Scout griped bitterly.

Entering what was left of the main control room, Jonathon and Scout took a look around. The two had been walking all over the Base assessing the damage and taking inventory of their supplies.

"Not much left of anything here," Jonathon stated sadly as he bent down to pick up the charred frame of what used to be his chair.

"I was hoping some of my equipment would have survived," Scout remarked, looking through the remains of his station, not finding anything of use. "I think Pilot left her spanner and tool belt on the Jumpship, and I have a few things stored there too. I guess that should be enough to help get me started on Blastarr."

"Good. A supply run is out of the question right now. We're going to have to make do until we know Pilot's going to be…" Jonathon dropped off and sighed. He looked at his watch for what seemed like the millionth time. Only an hour had passed. "Why haven't we heard anything yet?"

"Consider it a good thing," Scout encouraged the worried Captain. "It means she's still alive and holding on."

Jonathon solemnly nodded in agreement, trying to keep positive. "Well, let's head to the Jumpship then, and retrieve what you need so you can work on Blastarr."

"You mean so WE can work on Blastarr. I'm going to need your help."

* * *

><p><em>Jon held her hand as they walked. He had never done that before, but to Jennifer it felt like the most natural thing to do. She was kind of surprised how natural it felt. She had often thought about what it would be like to take that next step into a more physical relationship, and those thoughts usually scared her. But not now. Looking down at their intertwined hands she was bursting with joy. She purposefully bumped into his side to get him to look at her so she could share her smile with him. The look on his face told her that he was enjoying the moment just as much as she was. It was something so simple- her hand in his, but she just loved the closeness of it. It made her feel wanted, loved, protected. She thought back to being in the Dread Youth and how relationships were non-existent. No one ever touched her. No embracing, no emotion, no attachments, no comfort, no contact. What a sad way to live, Jennifer thought, not ever knowing that even just a simple hand-hold could bring about such a sense of belonging and happiness.<em>

"_So where are we going?" she asked again, unable to wait much longer for the answer._

"_My family bought this farm before the Metal Wars, not to farm the land, but because Dad liked that there was plenty of space for him to tinker on his inventions. And it's far enough out in the country that there's no one else around for miles. See that building up ahead? That was my dad's barn. There's something inside that I want to show you."_

_Reaching the barn, Jon undid the latch on the doors and swung them open. The last of the evening light swarmed inside as the waning sun rays peaked their way through the slats of the old wooden boards that precariously made up the walls and roof. Dust particles sparkled and floated in the stale air._

_Jennifer noticed some type of structure hiding underneath a cloth cover. It wasn't very tall but it was fairly long, and it had a unique shape. It looked solid on the sides but the cloth had caved in on itself on the top. She didn't have a clue what it could be. She gave Jon a confused look._

"_This is it!"_

_Together they lifted the cloth cover off the structure, stirring more dust into the air. They dropped the cover on the dirt floor and Jennifer stood looking at the structure even more confused than before._

"_What is it?" she asked as she ran her hand across the side of it._

"_It's a car. To be more exact, this one is called a convertible. It was quite the machine back in its day."_

"_A car? I've heard of these things."_

"_Amazing, isn't it?"_

"_It's beautiful! What's its power source?"_

_Jon popped open the hood. "Come around this way."_

_She poked her head under the hood and gasped. "It looks so primitive."_

"_It's an internal combustion engine that runs on gasoline. Dad and I spent a few years restoring it. He taught me a lot about it."_

"_Does it still work?"_

_Jon fetched the key out of his pocket and dangled it in front of her with a big grin on his face._

"_Wanna go for a drive?"_

_Her face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Can I drive it?" she asked excitedly like a little kid. Without waiting for his answer, she climbed over the driver's side door and got behind the wheel._

"_Typical. Do you always have to be in the pilot's seat?" he teased._

"_What? Don't you trust me? You know I can fly anything!"_

"_I trust you implicitly…when it comes to flying. But this is driving."_

_She pretended to ignore him as she looked down at the pedals, moved the stick shift around, and played with the wind shield wiper lever._

"_And not just driving, but driving my Dad's extremely old…antique…vintage…convertible…" he stammered on with his argument he knew he probably wasn't going win while watching her fiddle with the radio knobs. "…With a stick shift…"_

"_I had some experience driving a tank in the Dread Youth," she stated simply, toggling the switch back and forth for the door locks._

_Placing her hands on the middle of the steering wheel to get a better look at the speedometer, she accidently sounded the horn without knowing what she did. It echoed loudly throughout the barn and beyond. She jumped at the sound and immediately looked apologetically toward Jon with her hand over her mouth thinking that she broke something._

_Jon stifled a laugh. With his arms crossed he wanted to be serious but was having a hard time staying that way. "Do have any idea how cute you are right now?"_

"_Cute?" Jennifer at first wrinkled her nose at the term of endearment. No one had ever called her that before, and she certainly had never thought of herself as such. But then she saw that sparkle in his eyes that told her he meant it and she felt warmth radiate throughout her body. She smiled at him. She could get used to these types of compliments._

"_Yeah. Cute." He planted a very quick kiss to her forehead and then walked around to the passenger side of the car and got in. "Okay, if you're going to drive, I need to teach you a few things first."_

* * *

><p>Back in the sub-control room, Scout and Jonathon sat on the floor and began the slow process of taking Blastarr apart piece by piece.<p>

"So what's your plan?" Jonathon asked.

"Well, first we've got to find a way to permanently disconnect him from Overmind and see what information we can pull from his memory bank files. Then we could either make sure he never wakes up again or I was thinking we could reprogram him. Use him to our benefit somehow."

"You could do that? Reprogram him?"

"It would take some work and I would need both Mentor and Pilot to help. But think of the possibilities, Captain. We could use him as a spy-"

"Or as a weapon…" Jonathon interrupted, his mind reeling over the different ways they could use Blastarr to get back at Dread.

The two men smiled at each other mischievously.

"Well then, let's get to work! Where do we start?"

Scout pointed to the torso they had cracked open earlier.

"Okay, see those capacitors there? We need to disconnect them from the inductors to stop the electrical field from generating magnetic power. If we can stop the resonant frequency from oscillating, then we can safely dismantle the perceptrons of his neural network and PRESTO…Blastarr will be nothing but an empty tin can. "

"Right," Jonathon replied. "Maybe if you said that in English…"

"Sorry. I'm used to talking with Pilot about stuff like this. She's smarter than you!" Scout joked.

Jonathon smiled proudly despite his continued anxiety over Pilot's condition. "When it comes to stuff like this, yes, yes she is. You two work well together, you're like two peas in a pod."

Scout got down to business on Blastarr's circuits, using Pilot's spanner to splice through the connections. "You know, when we first found her escaping from the Dread Youth and you wanted to take her in, I have to admit I was skeptical. It was a risky move. But she certainly had a way of winning us over from the very beginning. It didn't take long for all of us to realize how special she is. Now I can't imagine our team without her."

"I feel like we've been taking her for granted. We don't tell her enough how much she's appreciated. How much we need her."

"And now you realize how much _you_ need her…" Scout looked at Jonathon to call him out on what they already both knew. "…how much you love her."

Jonathon sat silently, contemplating just how much Jennifer meant to him.

"No one is judging you, Captain. The rest of the team…well, we've known for a while. We saw it coming. We were just waiting in the wings for the two of you to admit it. We want you to know that we're okay if you want to…you know…be a couple. You have our support."

"That's good to hear, but you make it sound so simple. There's this thing called a war going on."

"And you're her Captain, yes we get it. But so what? Both of you already realize our mission is top priority, so what's the problem? You'll have to set some boundaries, but beyond that, there's nothing wrong with having some love and happiness in the middle of this chaos. I've been trying to find some myself, but haven't been as lucky as you."

"I'm not sure how lucky I am. She's fighting for her life right now."

"And she's a damn good fighter."


	6. Chapter 6- Waking Up is Hard to Do

"_Okay, got it? So, clutch in, turn the key, and put her in first gear."_

_The antique engine responded immediately at the turn of the key, purring at a low decibel and sending the tiniest of vibrations through Jennifer's fingers as she gripped the steering wheel with both hands._

"_Oh I'm loving this already!" Jennifer exclaimed. "Listen to that sound!"_

"_I thought you'd appreciate it," Jon replied. "I tuned her up the other day since I knew I wanted to take you for a ride. I had a heck of a time finding gasoline to fill up the tank."_

"_I bet you did. The oil refineries stopped production ages ago. How did you-"_

"_I have my ways," he smiled. "I called in a favor. From our good friend Locke."_

"_I see. You keep milking him for favors so now that makes him your good friend?" she said amused._

"_The way I see it, he owes us an unlimited supply of favors until his dying day for the way he sold us out to Dread and almost got you killed. Although I still would like to shove a thermal grenade up his-"_

_Jennifer laughed. "Hey, what happened to your motto about preserving life?"_

"_Oh, didn't you notice? I followed it; the war is over and we're still here, right?" Jon kidded._

_She leaned over to give him a quick kiss on the forehead, just as he had done earlier to her. "Do you have any idea how cute you are right now?"_

"_Cute?" he purposefully mimicked her response from earlier._

"_Yeah, cute."_

_Without warning, Jennifer let out the clutch, stepped on the accelerator and barreled out of the barn. She wound her way through the gears perfectly and then kept it at a steady speed down the dirt trail through the country side. She handled the car like a pro. Too much like a pro. Jon stared at her, shaking his head in disbelief._

"_What?" she said, looking back at him in feigned innocence._

_He stated the obvious with eyes narrowed. "You already knew how to drive a car. You tricked me!"_

_Jennifer shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe you're just a good teacher!"_

"_Yeah, that must be it," he chuckled. She never ceased to amaze him._

"_So where am I driving us to?"_

"_Follow this trail. It leads up to the switch-backs of the mountain. Now that the sun's gone down, there's a place up there I want to show you."_

* * *

><p>"Welcome to The Legion, Lord Dread. Your transformation is complete," spoke the orb of Overmind.<p>

Dread opened his eyes as he sat in his chair in the throne room of Volcania. Now that his body and soul had been transformed and given over to The Machine, he was no longer human. He slowly raised his hefty metal arm and looked down at his hand. His fingers were robotic, and when he touched his face he could no longer feel human skin; his face had become a full mask of shiny steel. As he looked around, he realized that everything looked enhanced through the lenses of the Machine.

Dread removed the wires that had connected him to Overmind. They were no longer needed. He stood and made his way over to the intercom to broadcast the news to his people.

"The New Order is one step closer to reality. I have become The Machine. The power within me is great. Together as the Body Electric we are destined to create a mechanized utopia. We must continue in our endeavors to capture all unwilling organics. Those who oppose us shall soon realize their fate. We are INVINCIBLE!"

Slamming his metal fist into the console to end his broadcast, Dread felt unstoppable. But Overmind felt a disruption within the network.

"Do not be so confident. You have much to learn, Lord Dread," Overmind cautioned. "You have just become One with The Machine yet you have not sensed the disturbance in The Legion. One of us has been permanently terminated from the inner-neural Bio-Mech network."

Dread paused and then turned around to look at Overmind. "Yes…Blastarr. It is of no consequence. Blastarr was a FOOL, a flawed Bio-Dread incapable of following orders. He is not needed."

"We were wrong about you, Lord Dread. Your over-confidence is a human emotion that has not left you despite your transformation. You are the one who is flawed."

"SILENCE! How DARE you speak to me in such a manner! Soon all will become Bio-Mechs, and I shall be their King and rule over them. Once the New Order is in place, there will be no further need for you, Overmind."

"We are One, made of the same living Bio-Mech DNA which connects your soul to The Legion. Destroy me and you also will be destroyed."

"Hmmmmm…we shall see about that. Soaron!"

"Here my Lord!" Soaron replied as he flew around keeping guard near the hidden entrance to one of Power's transit gates.

"Blastarr's mission has failed. He has been captured and dismantled by Power's Team. Blastarr's last transmission shows the rebel Youth Leader Chase as the one who orchestrated his demise. You must find a way inside that Base and FINISH THEM FOR GOOD! Should you fail, I shall be the one to dismantle you permanently. I have grown tired of you Bio-Dreads allowing Power and his Team to wreak havoc on my plans for The New Order."

"Understood my Lord! I will not disappoint!

Lord Dread turned and stormed out of the throne room, leaving Overmind to his thoughts.

"Laccki!" Overmind called.

The miniature-sized twin robot of Blastarr wheeled its way out from the shadows and approached the orb.

"Lord Dread still has no idea I have resurrected you. I have kept this information hidden from him within the neural network. He believes his transformation to The Machine is fully complete, but it is not. I stopped the process short when I felt his human emotions rising up within. He has become much too selfish and independent. You must continue with the original task I gave you. Do you understand?"

As his electric red eyes blinked rapidly at the news, the tiny robot replied, "I am Laccki. I live to serve!"

* * *

><p>"<em>It's so beautiful up here!" Jennifer remarked as she sat with Jon on the hood of the car at the top of the mountain, gazing upward at the night sky. "I had no idea there were SO MANY stars."<em>

"_As a kid I used to come up here all the time with my telescope before the Metal Wars. And now, all the pollution and smog from the war is finally lifting and we can see the stars again. It's a good sign. Things are returning back to how life once was. It's what I've dreamed about for so long- the end of the war and the start of a new life."_

_Jennifer turned her eyes from the stars and looked into Jon's face. "It was my dream too, to have the war over with and Dread gone for good. But I never thought about what would happen after that. The war is all I've ever known. I'm not sure what starting a new life means or looks like. What do I do? Where do I go?"_

_Under the glow of the moonlight, Jon noticed an uneasiness settle over Jennifer face. "Hey," he said softly as he held the side of her face with his hand. "You're not going to be alone, you know that, right? We have each other, and you're staying with me, right here. You and I are going to start a new life together. That is, if that's what you want. Because believe me, it's what I want, but I want you to want it too."_

_Jennifer was at a loss for words. All she could do was nod yes and smile happily as one lone tear trickled slowly down her cheek from the corner of her eye. She noticed his face drawing closer to hers. Feeling the pull from his hand still on her face, she could sense the longing in his heart and see the desire in his eyes. His gaze switched from her eyes to her lips, and ever so slowly he closed the gap between them until she closed her eyes and finally felt the warmth of his lips on hers._

_It should have been the most beautiful moment, but something immediately changed. His lips turned cold, like metal, and the hand that so delicately held her face now reached around her neck and started to choke her. Startled and very afraid, she opened her eyes and found herself staring straight into the face of Lord Dread. She tried to push herself away out of his grasp, but she was trapped._

"_Did you really think you could find happiness in the arms of Jonathon Power?" Lord Dread sneered. "You will never be with him because you are doing to DIE! DIE TRAITOR CHASE, DIE!" Dread laughed and squeezed even tighter around her throat. She could feel the life being drained from her body as her lungs burned in desperate need of air._

Jennifer's body flung upright from the medi-bunk as her eyes shot straight open in horror. Arms flailing, she tried to scream but nothing came out. She couldn't breathe.

"It's okay, Jennifer. It's okay…calm down. You're safe. Shhhh, it's okay," Hawk tried to still her but was not having any success. He motioned for Tank to help.

Tank stepped closer and placed his strong hands on her shoulders and gently pushed her back down on the medi-bunk. "Don't fight it," Tank told her. "You have a breathing tube down your throat."

Jennifer finally stopped moving to notice her surroundings. She was at the Base. Her good friends Hawk and Tank were talking to her, but she wasn't sure why.

"That's it, kid. That's it, relax. Let the tube breathe for you," Hawk soothed. "We repaired the damage to your lungs, but they aren't quite strong enough for you to breathe on your own yet."

She settled down for a moment, trying not to gag on the breathing tube, allowing it to breathe for her. She was so confused, what happened to her? She tried to sit up again but Tank wouldn't let her move. "You have to lie still; the broken bone in your back is still being mended."

She looked underneath her and noticed she was lying on the bone grafting mat which glowed in an orange color, sending warmth and emitting a healing electromagnetic pulse to her spine. Still confused and disoriented, the tears started to stream down her face.

"Hey, it's okay. You're okay, don't cry," Hawk tried to calm her again as he swiped the tears off her face. She looked up at him but the fear in her eyes kept growing, so he turned to Tank and whispered, "Go get the Captain."


	7. Chapter 7- Holding On

While Scout continued working on Blastarr, Jonathon had gathered up the sixteen mutilated Bio-Mechs so he could pull out their memory banks. Time was of the essence. They only had a few more hours before the data would be wiped out completely due to their built-in self-destruct mechanisms that start their count downs after losing communication with Volcania.

"Throw me a screw driver, will you?" Jonathon asked Scout.

"One good old-fashioned screw driver, coming up." Scout grabbed the tool out of Pilot's tool belt and whipped it high into the air. Jonathon caught it nicely with one hand. "You know what you're doing there?" Scout asked.

"I think so."

"You'll want to take the head off first. Then it's just a matter of digging around near the base of the neck. Clear the area of all the wires so there's room to pull out the memory cartridge."

"Got it."

Scout noticed Jonathon checking his watch yet again. Pilot had been in surgery for nearly four hours now, and they still hadn't heard anything. Feeling Scout's eyes on him at being caught looking at the time repeatedly, Jonathon frowned.

"If we didn't have all this work to do, I think I'd be going insane," Jonathon nervously remarked as he yanked the head off his first victim. "I'm giving it fifteen more minutes, and then I'm going down there."

"We're all holding our breath, Captain. I don't like this waiting either, but you need to give Hawk the time and space to do what he needs to do. Busting in there before he's finished and demanding what's going on isn't going to help Jennifer."

Jonathon knew he had to somehow concentrate on the task at hand to get his mind off the waiting. So he took a deep breath and returned back to leadership mode.

"We need to re-establish connections to the outside," Jonathon said, trying to steady his shaky hands while he eased out the memory cartridge from the trooper. "When you're done here I want you to contact Freedom Two, see what's going on over the wires. Dread's got to be up to something now that we're essentially trapped inside our own Base. And he's probably figured out that Blastarr is down for the count."

"And Soaron's probably flying around the transportation gate."

"Yeah. Maybe we can come up with a plan to get him off the grid too."

"Now you're talkin'!"

Hearing footsteps coming from down the hall, the two men stood alert. Jonathon grabbed his laser gun out from his holster just in case.

"There you guys are," Tank said as he came into view. "I've been looking all over for you. The com link is down, otherwise I would have just called you."

Relieved to see that it was just Tank, Jonathon re-holstered his gun. But the relief quickly turned into grave anxiety as he realized why Tank was looking for them. Tank stood uncharacteristically in hospital scrubs covered with spattered splotches of blood. Jennifer's blood.

Jonathon suddenly felt like he just got the wind knocked out of him. He was paralyzed at the sight and couldn't form any words. Tank spoke first, not wanting to leave the troubled Captain in suspense any longer.

"She pulled through. Hawk did good. Got the bleeding to stop. Still can't breathe on her own yet, but she just woke up. Hawk wanted me to come get you, Captain. She's scared and confused. Maybe when she sees you she'll calm down."

"She's…alive?" Jonathon swallowed hard.

A jubilant Scout slapped the Captain hard on the back, trying to snap him out of his disbelief. "Hey! She's alive! Hah Hah! She's alive! That's our Pilot! See, I told ya!"

Jonathon needed a moment to gather back his nerves before he allowed a faint smile to finally creep up on his face.

"Well? Go!" Scout exclaimed. "Go see her! Sounds like she needs you. I'll finish up here and then I'll see what I can do about re-establishing communications."

His voice still emotionally on edge, Jonathon rasped out, "Tank, why don't you get cleaned up and then help Scout? I'll be in the Med Bay."

"Sure thing," Tank answered.

Jonathon turned back before walking out. "Tank…thanks. Thanks for-"

"No need, Captain. I'd do anything for Pilot."

* * *

><p>"The Captain's on his way to see you. Just try to relax. I'm going to give you something that will help take the edge off."<p>

Hawk filled the syringe with what little pain medication they had left in supply and pushed the needle into Jennifer's shoulder. Caressing the top of her head with the palm of his hand to help ease the stress he knew she felt, he tried once again to get through to her. "Do you remember what happened?"

Jennifer barely was able to move her head yes in a nod. Now that she had been awake for a few minutes, it was all coming back to her. She had awoken abruptly from the nightmare of Dread choking her to death, but she soon realized that in reality she was living another nightmare- the attack on the Base. The last thing she remembered was thinking she was going to die in Jon's arms. So what happened between then and now? Fear and pain pulsated through her core. The breathing tube wasn't making her any more comfortable, either. She felt trapped in her own body.

"We were able to repair most of the damage you suffered internally. You're going to be hurting for a while though as your broken bones and torn muscles heal. Hopefully we can get this breathing tube out of you soon."

Jennifer blinked back the tears in her eyes. She was going to be okay? Then why was it hurting so much? What about the Base? Where was Jon? More confusion settled into the pit of her stomach.

Hawk continued to talk to her, wiping her tears away and trying to console her with his gentle voice. "You're gonna make it. You're so strong, Jennifer. Such a fighter…so incredibly brave." Becoming more emotional he added, "We don't know what we would have done if we had lost you. You scared the hell out of us."

"That's an understatement," Jonathon nervously gasped out as he stood outside the door of the Med Bay, watching what was going on and overhearing Hawk's confessions. "Is it okay to come in?"

At the sound of Jonathon's voice, Jennifer's eyes perked up.

"Oh, I see how ya are," Hawk playfully whispered to Jennifer with a smile. "You only get excited when _he's_ around!"

Hawk gave her a wink and squeezed her hand before releasing it. He walked toward Jonathon, motioning for him to come in.

"How's she doing?" Jonathon asked Hawk out of Jennifer's ear shot. It was the burning question that had been blazing in his mind for the past four hours.

"Holding on. But she's scared, and I'm sure she's in a lot of pain."

As Jonathon approached the medi-bunk, he was shaken up at seeing her in such a state, but he held it together for her sake. Jennifer wanted so much to be able to speak. She had so many questions, so many things to say. Jonathon could see her struggle against the breathing tube, and taking in her pallor and seeing the wetness on her face from the tears of fear and pain that had spilled, all he wanted to do was hold her in his arms. But that wasn't an option at the moment.

"Jennifer…"

Kneeling down to her level, he grasped her hand in his and nuzzled her cheek with his lips, covering her with soft kisses and whispering quiet reassuring words until she noticeably fell into a peaceful state. When he noticed her eyes starting to get droopy, he said, "I'm staying with you. I'm not leaving. Just rest, go to sleep. I'll be here when you wake up."

Those were the words she needed to hear. As long as he would be there when she woke up, she wasn't afraid to relax and go back to sleep. Giving her one more kiss, Jonathon waited for her eyes to close in sleep and then he stood.

"I figured you'd be able to calm her down," Hawk told him as the two men gazed at Jennifer in awe of what she had been through.

"Matt…how can I ever thank you for what you've done."

"Save it, Captain. I love her too, ya know. It was the right thing to do. We got lucky. The doctors at the Passages were able to tap into our laser machine remotely and program it to cut exactly where it needed to. They had it all graphed out according to the scans we uploaded from Mentor. And our patient here, well, she did amazing. She has so much fight in her. But Jon…I don't want to ever have to do anything like this again. With Dread's forces pushing us harder than ever, something this bad could happen to any one of us at any time. We may not be so lucky the next time around. We really should think about adding a real doctor to our team."

"I know. I've been thinking that very same thing. It's worth considering adding another team member. We do have three extra power suits."

"Two. We have two extra power suits. Pilot's going to need a new one. When she's ready for it, of course," Hawk said as he handed Jennifer's damaged suit to Jonathon.

Jonathon fingered the laser burns and holes that covered the mid-section of the suit. It was beyond repair. A lot of the fabric and circuitry had been completely obliterated, which meant that Jennifer took the full brunt of most of Blastarr's hits.

Anger rose up within him as he thought of Locke, the informant who betrayed them and got them into this mess. The Team's creed of "preserving life" was getting harder to follow given this circumstance. Jonathon felt like punching the wall a thousand times over, pretending it to be Locke's face. It went completely against his morals, but for the first time since his father's death, Jonathon felt the need for vengeance against another human, to get revenge for what happened to Jennifer. He knew he had to keep his composure, at least for now. Jennifer needed him. But God help Locke if they ever crossed paths again.

Handing the suit back to Hawk, Jonathon grabbed a chair and returned to sit next to Jennifer's side. "So what's her status?"

"Well, she's stable but still in critical condition. The next step is to watch for infection that could set in and also for any more internal bleeding. Barring any complications, we've upped her chances of survival considerably. Full recovery will take time. We need to get her transported to The Passages as soon as possible. We don't have the resources here to continue her care. The blood supply has been depleted and I just gave her the last of the pain medication that we had left. Mentor currently doesn't have the right components to synthesize more. When she wakes up again, she's going to be in pain and there won't be much we can do."

"We'll have to find a way to sneak out of here, then. It's not going to be easy. I'm sure Dread has us under heavy surveillance."

Hawk agreed. "What ended up happening with Blastarr?"

"Scout got him disabled permanently. He won't be regenerating."

"Finally. The metal mouth monster is dead. Well that's some consolation, anyway. I don't know about you, but I'm ready to fight Dread full force for what he's done here."

"Oh you better believe it we're striking back. We'll make him pay," Jonathon said with true grit and determination as he glanced at Jennifer. "We just need a good plan. And we don't have a lot of time."


	8. Chapter 8- The Secret Command

Scout and Tank returned to the Jumpship in the hangar bay after successfully pulling all of the memory banks from the troopers and from Blastarr. Since their mainframe computer system in the control room had been destroyed, they would have to make do with the Jumpship's terminal.

"Okay, I've got radio communications back open and Mentor's link restored," Scout said. "You ready?"

"All set," Tank replied. "I looped the data from all of the memory banks onto one disk. I hope it doesn't short circuit Mentor." He pushed the disk into the receptacle with uncertainty.

"I've got all of the power from the ship diverted to this terminal, so it should work."

"Sounds risky to me. If we blow up the Jumpship, Pilot will never forgive us."

Scout smiled and rubbed his hands together in anticipation. "All or nothing! Here goes…"

Scout pushed the button to establish a link between Mentor and the data disk. Immediately the lights in the Jumpship dimmed and sparks flew out of the console.

"This isn't going to work," Tank warned as the screen remained blank and smoke started to billow.

"Just give it a few more seconds…come on….come on…"

The lights finally came back on in full and the sparks stopped. Several data entry logs appeared on the screen.

"Well well well. What do we have here?" Scout asked with excited curiosity. "This looks complex. Lots of data." Getting a first quick glance while scrolling through the logs, one thing immediately stood out to Scout. "Look…each trooper had two different sets of commands to follow."

"What could that mean?" Tank asked, puzzled.

"I'm not sure. But the Captain definitely needs to see this. Mentor, create a backup of this data on your mainframe. Analyze and group data for better understanding."

As they waited for Mentor to follow through on Scout's command, the radio buzzed and picked up a frequency from Elzer Polasky, the voice of Freedom II. Scout hurriedly unscrambled the signal so they could safely hear the message without it leaking to Dread.

"_This is Freedom II. We just heard the disturbing news that Captain Power's Base came under heavy attack by Dread's forces. If you're listening, Captain, we've got your back. Stay away from The Passages. I repeat, stay away from The Passages. They are on precautionary lock down. The Angel City Resistance is prepared to assist in any way possible with shelter, food, supplies, and medical attention. Cypher has cleared Sector 5 Grid 7 as a rendezvous point for you to regroup. Get there if you can. Dread has been quiet, waiting for you to resurface. Cover your tracks well. God speed."_

"Cypher?" Tank questioned, surprised. "I thought Locke said Dread captured him."

"Locke said a lot of things, none of which seem to be the truth," Scout replied bitterly. "Come on. Let's get to the Med Bay. I want to see how Pilot's doing, and we need to update the Captain."

* * *

><p>"No sign of Power, my Lord," Soaron reported to Lord Dread.<p>

"Stay where you are, Soaron. I am sending more troopers to the area. Power cannot hide for long. He will re-emerge, and when he does, we will finish him. I will be there shortly to see this to an end. With my new immortal mechanized body, I cannot be defeated."

"Yes my Lord," Soaron replied.

Lord Dread walked over to the Overunit who attended the nearby console. "Prepare my ship," he commanded. "I'm going on a little…expedition."

* * *

><p>This time it wasn't a nightmare that brought Jennifer out of her deep sleep, rather, it was the sharp throbbing pain that she felt everywhere in her body from head to toe that made all of her nerve endings pop like firecrackers. She didn't even bother opening her eyes. She knew the light would be too much for her headache and that any movement would cause more pain. No, this wasn't a mere headache; it felt more like a constant explosion shattering the inside of her brain, the pain pulsating along to the rhythm of her every heartbeat. The inside of her mouth was like cotton and her throat was on fire. Her thoughts were fuzzy but she somehow recognized that the breathing tube was gone and she was breathing on her own. Becoming more alert yet still keeping her eyes shut, she felt her hand being held by someone else's hand. She felt the warmth and tried to concentrate as the fog in her mind cleared. As she focused, she began to hear voices. Lying still, she tried to make sense out of what they were saying.<p>

"_I'm wondering how Freedom II even found out about the attack. We haven't given out any distress calls and none of the troopers lived to tell about it."_

"_Well, it was definitely a transmission from Freedom II. I traced the frequency and it's legit. The Passages just confirmed they are on lock down. If Elzer is saying Cypher cleared Sector 5 for us, then I have to believe it's safe. Dread doesn't have Cypher; it was just another one of Locke's lies."_

"_Well we can't stay here for much longer. The control room is destroyed, we have limited supplies-"_

"_And Dread has a pretty good idea of our location now-"_

"_And we need to get Pilot to a doctor-"_

"_We have to blow the Base."_

"_You think that's still necessary?"_

"_I don't want to leave anything for Dread. We blow the Base and high-tail it out of here to Sector 5."_

"_Yeah, but once we re-open the transit gate, we're toast…"_

Jennifer was now fully awake and aware as she listened in on the conversation. Being the tactical expert that she was, she had an idea. Would her voice work if she were to talk? She had to try.

"We could move the transit gate."

Her voice was weak and pained, but it was loud enough to make all of the voices stop speaking. She finally had the courage to open her eyes, and after blinking several times, she saw the four men she knew as family standing around her, all giving her looks of worry and concern.

"Look who's awake!" Hawk announced. He fiddled with some of the monitors to check her status.

She couldn't hide her pain, although, she wished that she could. She didn't want to be coddled. Seeing her face tense up in a grimace, Jonathon squeezed her hand that he had been holding this whole time. "I was hoping you'd sleep a little longer so you wouldn't feel the pain."

"You've got to be brave just a little longer, kid," Hawk told her. "We're out of pain meds, but your vitals are looking good. Hang in there, okay?"

"Hey Pilot, what were you saying about moving the transit gate?" Scout asked.

Jennifer swallowed hard, trying to get some moisture to her throat. She closed her eyes briefly and took in a shaky breath. Releasing the breath, she opened her eyes again, trying to forget about how much her head hurt and that the room was spinning, and instead focused on the answer to Scout's question.

"It's okay, take your time," Jonathon coaxed.

Jennifer nodded and then spoke. "The transit gates were never meant to be moved, but they do have a little wiggle room in them. If you can get to the underground generator for the one over the Base, you can pivot the solar panel to move the gate another quarter-mile north or south of its current location. Just enough to throw off whoever's waiting for us, giving us time to surprise-attack them from behind. Blow them out of the sky like we usually do and then head to Sector 5 undetected."

Jonathon looked to Scout and Tank. "You think you two could get to the generator on your skybikes without causing any trouble?"

"It's not that far from here. I think it's possible." Tank answered. Scout agreed.

"Make it happen. When you get back, we'll load the Jumpship, blow the Base, and head on out."

"There's one more thing, Captain," Scout mentioned as he walked over to the sub frame computer terminal. "Mentor's been working on the analysis of the data from the memory banks we pulled. He should be finished with it by now."

Scout pushed a few buttons and Mentor appeared.

"Mentor, what did you find?" Jonathon asked.

"Something very interesting, Captain. Each trooper and the Bio-Dreads have been given two separate commands- two very different missions. Lord Dread has given the command to focus on destroying you and your team, and anyone else that stands in his way of building The New Order. But Overmind has implanted a secret command that is to take priority. It would appear that Lord Dread knows nothing of this."

"Do you know what the secret command is?" Jonathon questioned.

"To digitize the entire human population on this planet into Overmind's network and then, when all have been collected, delete them from existence, including Dread."

"Whoah. That's definitely not Dread's idea of The New Order," Scout said.

Jonathon agreed, "No, it's not. Dread wants control; he wants to turn all humans into machines and rule over them, not bring them to complete extinction. Mentor, was this Overmind's plan all along...to destroy the entire human race?"

"Unknown."

"Anything else you can tell us?"

"Yes. Dread has undergone some sort of transformation by Overmind. He is now more machine than he is human and more powerful, but deep down he is still human. He has been tricked into thinking that he is no longer human. Dread believes he is immortal, but that is not the case."

"This is incredible," Hawk said, shaking his head. "Overmind is trying to kill Dread?"

"And here I used to think if we stop Dread, we end the war. But it's Overmind that we really need to go after." Jonathon thought out loud.

"Well we certainly have our work cut out for us," Tank said.

"We need to get moving. Scout and Tank, get to that generator," Jonathon commanded. "Power up and be careful. Keep a close watch on the radar, stay low to the ground, and make it quick."

As the two men left the Med Bay, Hawk excused himself as well, knowing that Jonathon would probably want some time alone with Jennifer. "Captain, I'll go get a head start on loading the Jumpship with anything that's salvageable."

"Thanks, Hawk."

Jonathon sighed and turned his attention back to Jennifer. Finally he was alone with her. She had closed her eyes again but her face still held an expression of pain. It tore at his heart.

"Did you hear all of that?" he whispered, not knowing if she was still awake.

"Yeah," she replied. "That's certainly a game changer, isn't it?"

"At least we were able to get a heads up. We'll get it sorted out one way or another."

When she still hadn't opened her eyes, he squeezed her hand. "How are you doing…you hanging in there?"

She found the strength to squeeze his hand back. "Mmmm…I'm glad you're here with me," she said, and rewarded him with the pleasure of looking into her eyes as she opened them.

"Jennifer, you have no idea how very happy I am that YOU are still here with ME."

She smiled weakly. "I had a dream…about you and me…right before I woke up the first time."

"A good one, I hope?" He kissed her hand.

"It started out very good…it was so real…and so…wonderful. The war was over. We were together and you were going to kiss me but then…it wasn't you…it was Dread…and he was choking me to death."

"And that's when you woke up. That's why you were so troubled when I came to see you."

Jennifer nodded.

Jonathon wanted to remedy her fear. He realized that this was the perfect time to do something he had wanted to do for so long.

"Well, how about we change the ending to that dream?"

He leaned over and captured her lips with his in a tender kiss. There was nothing tentative about it; with their feelings for each other out in the open now, there was no holding back. The love he felt for her and the fear he had of losing her came pouring out into the emotion of the kiss. Jennifer was overwhelmed, but in a good way. She had never experienced such a deep and meaningful expression of this kind of love before. When they finally broke apart, she looked into his eyes and knew that she wanted to be kissed by this man like that for the rest of her life.

"Better?" he asked with a smile.

"Much," she answered bemused, forgetting for a moment about the pain that coursed through her body. "Jon…can I ask you something?"

"Of course. Anything."

"Where would you go…after the war is won…what would you do?"

He remembered the words he said to her in desperation as she nearly died in his arms, that he was fighting for their future; that the two of them were going to have a real life together someday. His answer came easily.

"My dad owned a farm in Colorado- not too far from here, actually- in the valley surrounded by the mountains. It was beautiful. Lots of land and a big lake. I'd like to go back there someday and rebuild it…with you by my side."

Jennifer was caught by surprise. He had never shared that information with her before. She didn't have any idea that his family actually owned a farm, yet she had dreamed of it exactly how he described it. She decided to keep that her own little secret, to tuck it away in her heart and keep dreaming until it became reality.

"Well in that case, can we get this war won as soon as possible?"

"Planning on it! You're my motivation," he replied.

"So are we really going to blow the Base?" she asked, concerned.

"I don't think we have much of a choice at this point." He saw the look of despair on her face. "Hey, don't worry about the Base. You've done far more than I would ever ask of you to defend it. We'll find a new home. You just concentrate on getting better. That's an order, Corporal Chase."

"I guess I do need practice on following orders…"

"Yes, you do," he agreed. "I do want to tell you, though, that despite you not following my orders, I'm very proud of you and grateful for what you've done. We are so lucky to have you on our team. I'm amazed at your strength, your passion for what's right. And I love you very much."

"See, I told you you'd be thanking me later," she quipped.

"Uh huh, funny. I love your humor, too." He kissed her quickly and lightly on the lips. "Now, I want you to close your eyes. Get some rest before we have to leave. I'll be right here."

* * *

><p>"Laccki, report," Overmind called.<p>

"I have done as you asked."

"And no one saw you?"

"I waited until after the Overunit cleared the ship for flight. Then I made the adjustments. I was careful and discrete. I live to serve."

"Then Dread's reign is almost finished. We hunger for his extermination."


	9. Chapter 9- The Great Escape

While Jennifer tried to rest, Jonathon intensely combed through the data file Mentor created from the memory banks of the Biomechs. He wanted to see the information for himself and to study it carefully. After a while, he heard Jennifer stir. He stopped his studying and walked over to the medi-bunk to check on her. He could tell she was in tremendous discomfort. She was trying to get into a more comfortable position, but no matter which way she moved, nothing made the pain subside. In fact, the stinging of her nerves, the pounding in her head, and soreness of the broken bones and torn muscles throughout her body seemed to be getting worse by the minute.

"Anything I can do to help?" he asked her softly with concern. He silently wished he could trade places with her so that she wouldn't have to suffer. Sitting down close to her on the edge of the bed, he attentively watched over her.

Bravely, she shook her head no. She didn't have the strength to respond any other way. He frowned out of worry. She looked even paler than before, and beads of sweat trailed down her forehead. At first he thought it was just because of the stress she was under having to deal with the pain, but then he reached out and placed his palm on her temple. She was burning up. Jonathon's worry went up another notch.

"Mentor, what are Pilot's vitals?"

"Heart rate and respiration slightly elevated. Body temperature indicates a fever. Possibility of infection. Recommend a regimen of strong antibiotics to combat."

"We have to get you out of here," he said out loud, but more to himself than to her. He wondered how much longer she could hold on and how much longer before they could leave.

As if on cue, the three other team members returned from their duties.

"Mission accomplished, Captain," Tank announced.

"Good. Hawk, how much more loading is there to do?"

"Not much. Just the skybikes, the rest of the ammo, and the bigger pieces of Blastarr…what's wrong?" Hawk asked, sensing the Captain's anxiety and immediately feeling the need to check on Jennifer.

"She's got a fever," Jonathon replied nervously.

Hawk quickly felt Jennifer's forehead. She groaned incoherently at his touch with eyes closed. "Captain, we need to leave- NOW," he said, matching Jonathon's anxiety level.

Jonathon nodded and jumped into action. "Tank and Hawk, help me get her moved to the Jumpship. Scout, make a new backup of Mentor and shut him down. Then we'll finish loading and set some detonators so we can blow this place. Do it fast. Now MOVE!"

* * *

><p>The Jumpship hovered at a safe distance away from the Base- what they had called home for so many years. It was a sad moment knowing that they could never return. For Jonathon especially, having to destroy what his father built was not going to be easy, but it was necessary. He had so many memories of this place; it was here that he learned how to fight, learned how to lead, learned how to love. He looked behind him from his command chair and caught a glimpse of Jennifer strapped securely in the bunk in the holding area. There was no more time to be nostalgic.<p>

Turning back around and getting one last look of the mountain side, there could be no more hesitation. Jonathon quietly gave the command.

"On my mark." He counted down from three in his head. Three more seconds and it would all be destroyed right in front of their eyes. 3…2…1…

"Mark."

Tank hit the button that set off the detonators they had planted on the inside. A series of small explosions burst forth as one by one each detonator blew. It was a domino effect, and the smaller blasts finally culminated into one big orange ball of fire that ripped open the mountain and obliterated their home. Fire and ash and pieces of rock and twisted metal rained down around the area, causing their view to become dark and orange and gray.

A somber mood could be felt in the Jumpship as the four men took it all in. It was so surreal and difficult to believe that it was all gone. But they knew that what they faced next was going to be just as difficult. They didn't know if they would even be able to pull it off, but there was no other choice but to just do it and see.

Jonathon swallowed hard. "Prepare for transit. Scout, as soon as we're through, change the gate codes. Tank, ready the missiles- give them everything we've got. Hawk, you fly this ship like you've never flown it before and get us to safety. Everyone ready?"

The three men nodded.

"Okay, let's do this," Jonathon growled. He was definitely in the mood to fight.

"Entering the transit gate…now." Scout informed.

They came out the other side about a quarter mile north from the original position just as Jennifer said they would.

"Hold position. What's on radar?" Jonathon questioned Scout.

"Reading two trooper ships, Soaron, and…Dread's ship, all positioned four clicks south, waiting."

"So Dread himself wants to play, huh? Let's give him a taste of his own medicine- a surprise attack. We come in from behind and go in firing all weapons, wide array dispersal. Destroy anything in our path. We're getting through alive and we're getting the hell out of here. No one follows us. Got it?"

"Yes sir!" all three men replied together.

"Battle stations. Hawk, maximum burn. GO!"

The Jumpship sped toward the Dread fleet on what could seemingly be called a suicide mission. They were outnumbered. But the Power Team was ready for the fight.

The first of the Jumpship's missiles hit Soaron. He fell out of flight for a few seconds before he was able to regain his ground. "Aaaahhhh! My lord! They are attacking from behind!"

"All ships turn and attack!" Dread commanded.

Dread took aim and fired, getting in two solid hits. The Jumpship quivered and shook but kept on with its own assault against one of the trooper ships. Soaron tried to help by blasting away at some of the missiles heading toward Dread's ship. He shot one down, but missed the other.

"Soaron, you fool!" Dread shouted as his ship jolted and his shields fizzled out from the hit he took.

Soaron and Dread continued to fire at the Jumpship, but the Jumpship did some damage to the two trooper ships. The troopers had been holding back and were hardly engaged in the fight.

"Why are you not firing?" Dread shouted at them. "I command you to fire!"

"What's with the troopers? Why aren't they attacking?" Scout yelled as their ship took another direct hit from Soaron's lasers. The Jumpship fell out of flight but Hawk was quickly able to bring it back to level.

"Don't question it! Keep firing!" the Captain shouted as he held on for the bumpy ride.

Hawk was flying like crazy, trying to outmaneuver the pelting of fire from the enemy. "Captain, if we take any more hits like that, we going to lose the engines!" he warned.

Dread tried to steer his ship directly in line to get a good lock on the Jumpship. All of the sudden, he realized his controls were not responding. "Soaron! My ship! The controls! They are not working!" His ship started to spin out of control, falling from the sky.

"My lord!" Soaron gasped. He stopped fighting and flew down trying to catch Dread's ship, but there was no saving him.

"Get Soaron!" Jonathon yelled, seizing the opportunity.

Hawk flew down and Tank fired full force on Soaron.

"Aaaaahhhhhh!" Soaron screamed as he was disabled and sent on a free fall to the ground.

Dread's ship crash landed in the desert below.

Despite their heavily damaged ships, the troopers turned around and headed back to Volcania without any further communication or engagement in fighting.

The four men on the Jumpship were stunned as they realized that they were being left alone.

"What the hell just happened, Captain?" Hawk asked in shock.

"Is Dread…gone?" Tank contemplated.

"I should have realized…" Jonathon answered. "Overmind wants Dread out of the picture. This was more of a setup for Dread than it was for us. He was sabotaged."

"But the troopers could have finished us off if they had tried harder," Scout pondered.

"Yeah, I don't know," Jonathon sighed in relief as he ran a hand through his hair. "Like I said…best not to question it. Damage control?"

Hawk pushed some buttons and took some readings. "Damage to the outer hull and we're limping on one engine, but we should be able to make it to our destination in one piece."

"Okay. Set in the coordinates for Sector 5 Grid 7. Go as fast as she'll fly."

"Shouldn't we check on Dread?" Tank asked.

Jonathon turned around once again to look at Jennifer. She was unconscious but still safely strapped into the bunk.

"We don't have time."


	10. Chapter 10- The Hideout

Smoke billowed out of the wreckage that was Dread's ship. Its nose was buried in the sand and the hull was split in two segments lying a few yards apart from each other. Both sections were on fire. Lord Dread pulled himself free from the smoldering cockpit and haphazardly fell out of the crumpled ship and down onto the sand of the desert floor with a thud.

"I…hurt," he said, dazed and confused as he lay in the sand on his back, coughing from the smoke. He wondered to himself how this could be. A fully mechanized body should not hurt. A fully mechanized body should not have lungs in which the inhalation of smoke would cause him to cough. Something was very wrong.

His vision was very blurry, but he could see enough to know that his uniform had been burnt and torn, and the robotic metal on his arms had been stripped down, revealing human skin and blood. He touched his face and felt more human skin and wet sticky blood. His laser eye piece had been ripped off and destroyed in the crash. In its place was the old grown-over scar of an empty eye socket, the result of the fight and devastating fire many years ago in which Stuart Power was killed. No wonder his vision was blurry; he was looking through the only one good eye he had left- his human eye, no longer mechanized. His mind, usually filled with the many voices of the Machine and in sync with Overmind, was void of the usual noise. It was eerie and strange to have only his own thoughts in his head.

"OVERMIND!" he screamed. But there were no frequencies to latch on to, no communication from the Biomech Network. For so many years he and Overmind were connected, but now he had been cut off. He was alone…and human. And it all made sense to him now. All those times Overmind warned him of his human emotions, all those times he thought Laccki was spying on him, the sensation that Overmind was keeping something from him, his ship's controls not yielding to his touch, the troopers not following his orders to fire at Power's ship...yes it all became clear now. He had been betrayed. Expelled. Ousted. Overmind was now in complete control and the Dread Empire was no more.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" he screamed in hot ferocious anger, punching his fists hard into the sand in a fit of rage. He ripped off the rest of his robotic face that was hanging half on/half off his scarred human flesh. In doing so he tore more skin off from his cheek, exposing new broken blood vessels over the old and ugly disfiguring wounds. In torment he threw the mask as far as he could off to the side in the sand. Still lying on his back, his chest up heaving and panting in tight heavy breaths, he turned his head to see where it had landed. It was now sunset; the sun's rays were brilliantly shining at the horizon line. Dread squint his sensitive eye in response to the light. In the haze he could barely make out another pile of rubble lying a few feet away. He assumed it was Soaron.

"SOARON!" he yelled in agony. "SOARON! HELP ME!"

Dread managed to turn over and crawled on hands and knees toward the crumpled Soaron, who was not responding.

"SOARON! YOU WILL ANSWER ME!" Dread called out one more time before another coughing fit came over him. He could taste blood in his mouth, and he spit it out in the sand. Crawling a few more inches, he no longer had the strength to move any further. He collapsed in pain and let the darkness soothe him as he lost consciousness.

* * *

><p>Hawk landed the battered Jumpship near an abandoned dilapidated building at the coordinates Cypher had confirmed with them over the radio moments ago. The sun had now set completely, but even in the dark one could make out the pollution and smog left from the war hanging thick in the air. At some point in time, this place had been ransacked by the Bio-Dreads. All inhabitants had been digitized, creating an eerie ghost town.<p>

"Looks like Cypher picked a good place for us to hide out," Scout mentioned.

"Let's hope this isn't a trick," Tank said with caution.

"Only one way to find out," Jonathon answered. "Tank and Scout, power up. You guys head out first. Let us know if it's safe to come out."

A few minutes later, the hatch to the Jumpship opened and Tank and Scout braced themselves in full armor with weapons in hand for what they might encounter.

"Hey! What's with the guns? We're on the same side, remember?" Cypher joked as he held up his hands.

Tank and Scout headed down the ramp to greet their old friend under the light of the lamp post next to the building.

"Just precaution," Scout answered. "We've had enough surprises lately. You sure this area is secure?"

"Positive. I understand your concern, but I took extra care in-"

"Then you won't mind if we look around and run some scans first," Scout cut in.

Tank walked a distance with his scanner and Scout did the same in the opposite direction. When both men were satisfied that there was no danger present, they powered down and returned back to Cypher. Scout hit his com badge and told the Captain it was okay for them to come out.

"Sorry, Bean Pole, but we just had to make sure," Tank said with a smile, using the nickname he had given Cypher a while back. "We're grateful for your help."

"I'm just glad you were able to get here. We've all been worried. The Resistance would be finished without the Power Team."

"No time for chit chat, gentlemen," Scout interrupted as he saw the Captain exit the Jumpship with Jennifer limply cradled in his arms. Hawk followed behind them. "Cypher, you said you had a medical team here?"

Cypher was stunned and saddened at the sight of how bad Pilot looked as Jonathon approached. "Yes, they're inside, standing ready. This way, Captain."

Once inside the building, Pilot was whisked out of Jonathon's arms and placed onto a stretcher by two of the attendants that had been waiting. The quick and sudden movement jolted Jennifer awake from her stupor and she was immediately wondering where she was. They were about to carry her away into another room when Jonathon halted them.

"Wait…just give me a second." He grabbed Jennifer's hand and he waited to speak until she focused in on his face. The panic in her face was replaced with relief to see him there. He smiled at her despite how scared he was at seeing her so weak and sick. She hadn't been awake in a while so he wanted to let her know what was going on.

"We're in a safe place now, we made it. The doctors here are going to help you. You're gonna be fine. I've got some things to take care of, so I probably won't be able to see you for a bit, but you're not going to be left alone, okay? When I'm not here, I'll make sure someone from the team stays with you."

She squeezed his hand to let him know she understood. Before he could say anything else her hand quickly slipped out of his as the attendants took her away.

Cypher saw the weariness and worry in the eyes of the four defeated men standing before him as they watched their Pilot disappear behind the door. "You all must be exhausted after everything you've been through today. Come with me. I have a place where you can get some food and rest."

"Food?" Scout questioned as they followed Cypher down the hallway on their way to another section of the building. "I don't even remember the last time I ate. But I don't think I could stomach anything right now."

"Actually, there's another pressing issue that needs attention first," Jonathon told Cypher as they continued walking. "We think Dread might have been killed."

"_Might_ have?" Cypher asked the Captain in surprise. "How? What happened?"

"Long story, but basically we were engaged in fighting with him, some troopers, and Soaron on our way here. It appeared that Dread's ship was sabotaged. We saw him suddenly lose control and crash in the desert, somewhere in the vicinity of Sector 3. We didn't have time to check on him because we wanted to get Pilot here as soon as possible."

"Sabatoged? I don't understand. Who..?"

"Overmind," Jonathon answered.

"Okay, I'm confused," Cypher replied.

"Like I said, long story, but it makes sense with the latest Bio-Mech data we were able to recover. I'll fill you in later. But right now I'd like to head back out there to see what happened to Dread."

"Captain, no offense, but you look terrible. Take a break. You guys rest in here," Cypher motioned them into the makeshift lounge area. "I'll have some of my men go and check on Dread. And besides, there's someone here that really wants to talk to you."

Jonathon was about to ask who when he saw Locke standing casually in the corner, smoking a cigarette. Jonathon immediately snapped. Rushing towards Locke in a fit of rage, he lifted the betrayer by his throat and shoved him up against the wall.

"Captain!" Cypher shouted in astonishment.

Hawk, Scout, and Tank quickly stood ground behind their Captain, encircling Locke so he couldn't weasel his way out of the room. They were conflicted; they didn't know whether to stop Jonathon from doing something stupid or to help him beat Locke to a pulp. They kept quiet and waited to see how things would play out.

"Easy, Live Wire!" Locke choked out. "I…can…explain!"

"I don't want to hear it!" Jonathon seethed, tightening his grip even harder around Locke's throat.

"Captain, what are you doing?" Cypher nervously questioned. "He's here to help!"

Fuming with anger, Jonathon answered, "Oh he helped alright. This scum bag is the reason why my Base was attacked! He's the reason why Pilot is fighting for her life!"

"I'm…sorry…about that…but you don't…understand…" Locked spit out, getting more scared by the minute as he saw the fury in Captain Power's eyes and felt the brute strength from his grip.

"You're SORRY?" Jonathon screamed with venom. "Not as sorry as you're gonna be if she dies…"

Just the thought of Jennifer being hurt caused Jonathon to lose control. Seizing Locke's throat now with both hands, he was enjoying seeing the life being sucked out of the man who caused Jennifer's pain and suffering.

When Hawk saw that Locke's face was turning blue, he knew he had to put an end to it. "Jon, that's enough," he placed a hand on the Captain's shoulder. When Jonathon still wouldn't relent, Tank stepped in.

"I want to see him hurt just as much as you, Captain," Tank said. "But Pilot wouldn't want that. This isn't what we're about. This isn't how we do things."

"Maybe it is now," Jonathon replied bitterly, dropping Locke to the ground and giving him a swift kick in the stomach before stepping away to cool off.

"Captain, you need to listen to what he has to say," Cypher warned. "It's not what you think. He came to me and told me everything."

"So that's how Freedom Two found out about the attack," Scout surmised. "This coward came crawling to you guys after he betrayed us to Dread."

"I HAD NO CHOICE!" Locke replied angrily, still on the floor holding his bruised stomach. "When Dread found out I was stealing data from him, he took my daughter. You don't understand. She's all I had left," he said more gently, with tears now forming in his eyes. "He said if I helped him destroy Power and his team, he'd return her to me."

"And you believed him?" Scout asked in disgust. "Dread's not the kind to keep promises like that."

"You could have just told us. You didn't have to sell us out. We would have helped you get your daughter back," Hawk said.

"After your Base was attacked, I found out she was digitized. My daughter was only five years old. And now I have nothing left…nothing." Locke curled into a ball and started weeping.

But Jonathon was not moved by his story. "He's a liar, Cypher. He can't be trusted. He's working with Dread. When he gave us that data tape he told us that _you_ were captured by Dread. So I sent Pilot alone back to the Base to decipher the data while the rest of us went on a mission to try to find you. Locke set the trap which led to Blastarr gaining access to our transit gate."

"Locke works for me," Cypher replied with a steady voice.

Tank crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"I found him hiding out after his home had been destroyed in a raid. He told me his wife had been killed and he and his daughter were struggling to survive. When I found out he was a springer, I gave him food in return for stolen data from the Dread Empire."

Jonathon shook his head and sighed. "I don't believe this…" he whispered under his breath.

Cypher continued. "I told him to leak the stolen information to you, Captain. I knew that our team wouldn't be able to decipher it, but that you probably had the technology to figure it out. And I ended up being right when we heard that you took down Dread's Icarus Project. It was a great victory for The Resistance!"

"Why didn't you just tell us that Locke was with you?" Jonathon asked in frustration.

"I couldn't. I knew Dread was watching him closely. I didn't want to risk putting the rest of my team in danger. No one was supposed to know. It was for the best."

"For the best?" Jonathon sneered. "Tell that to Pilot."

"Need I remind you that this is a war, Captain? You of all people should know that stealing intelligence is the name of the game."

Jonathon stared at Locke who was still an emotional wreck lying on the floor. "Yeah, and this slime ball knows all about playing games. He was trying to get a deal out of us when he first contacted us. He's probably working both sides just to get what he wants. Did you ever even _see_ his daughter?"

"Well, no, but-"

"I can't trust him, Cypher, and neither should you. He's put the Resistance in jeopardy."

Locke finally stood up after wiping his eyes and regaining his breath. "Hey man, after what Dread did to my family, I'm in this war just as deep as you are. Trust me when I say I want revenge. And face it; no one's been able to spring into the Intellaweb except me. You guys_ need_ me. Together we can put an end to this war."

"And how are we supposed to trust you?" Jonathon retaliated. "Even_ if_ you're telling the truth, they know who you are. You're a wanted man. No- you sold us out once, you'll do it again just to save your own sorry ass if you keep playing games. Tank, find a place to lock him up. Get him out of my sight. We can't have him running around."

As Tank grabbed Locke firmly by the arm and took him away, Cypher continued to beg. "But Captain, you're not thinking clearly…he could be a huge asset…you're-"

"Too much damage has been done, Cypher. He doesn't get a second chance. Not in my book. If Pilot dies…"

Jonathon was so tired of fighting his fear. His shaky voice trailed off as he stood there in a horrified daze, picturing what life would be like without Jennifer.

Cypher was surprised to see the amount of despair that the Captain was displaying. It was out of character. Cypher understood all too well that losing a team member is difficult; he had lost some of his own over the years. As a leader he had learned to accept that there are casualties in war and you move on. But as Cypher carefully watched the Captain's face, he could sense that there would be no moving on if Pilot were to die. It was made obvious in that moment that Jonathon loved Jennifer. When had that happened? He didn't know. But all of the rage and anger that the Captain showed against Locke suddenly made sense. This was an interesting discovery to Cypher, and it left him wondering if Jonathon's feelings for Jennifer would either help or hinder the war effort.

Hawk wearily walked over to his Captain. Knowing that Jonathon's emotions had been stripped and frayed and pushed to the breaking point, it was time to put an end to the day. "Come on, Jon. Let's get some rest. Bunk down for the night. In the morning we'll check on Jennifer and then go see about Dread."


	11. Chapter 11- Aiding and Abetting

It had been a restless sleep for all four men of the Power Team. At first light, they arose from their makeshift beds, quickly downed a breakfast of rations that Cypher had laid out for them, and then swiftly made their way to go see Jennifer.

Peaking into the room where she was, they caught a glimpse of Jennifer sleeping peacefully. The doctor greeted them and waved them in. "I figured you guys would be down here early." Extending his hand, he introduced himself. "I'm Dr. Kendall."

"Thank you for meeting us here and for all your help," Jonathon said as he firmly returned the hand shake. "How is she?"

"We found the source of the infection and there was more internal bleeding so we had to open her back up. But I assure you everything is back under control. I have her on heavy antibiotics and she slept well though the night without any further problems. Her fever just broke this morning."

An obvious collective sigh of relief could be felt around the room from the men who had been so troubled over thinking they were going to lose her.

The doctor continued. "All indications show she's going to make a full recovery, but she'll be pretty weak for a while and will need physical therapy to get her muscles back into shape. She took quite the beating, but of course you already knew that. Which one of you did the emergency surgery to get her stabilized before coming here?"

"Uh, that would be me," Hawk replied with apprehension. "Although I had some help from The Passages."

"Well, you did an amazing job. You bought her just enough time."

"When the fever broke out, I was afraid that I did something wrong…" Hawk admitted.

The doctor shook his head no. "With the massive internal damage she had, I'm not surprised there were complications. She should have died. You helped save her life."

"When will she be awake?" Jonathon asked as he gazed in her direction.

"Well, the more she rests the better, but I suspect she'll be coming around in a few hours."

Jonathon nodded and looked to his team. "That gives us enough time to- "

"Captain!" Cypher exploded into the room. "He's gone!"

"Who are you talking about? And quiet down, Pilot's sleeping," Jonathon cautioned.

"Locke! He's gone. He took your skybike."

"That dirty rotten no good SON OF A-" The Captain's response grew louder and angrier with every word.

Hawk grabbed Jonathon by the elbow and yanked him out into the hallway while the others followed. "Quiet down! Pilot's sleeping," he repeated Jonathon's own words to him.

Jonathon looked to Tank. "I thought you secured him!"

"I did, Captain, I swear."

Scout chimed in. "He should be easy to find. We can trace your skybike's transmitter."

Jonathon paced the hallway and gained back some of his composure. "Alright. Tank, stay here with Pilot. I don't want her alone when she wakes up. Hawk and Scout, you're with me. We've got to find him, and we've got to find out what happened to Dread."

* * *

><p>Dread felt the cool relief of a damp cloth being pressed to his forehead. As the beads of water trickled down the side of his mutilated face, he wanted to swipe them away with his hand, but the dexterity in his arms was lost and he could not move them from where they rested on either side. Instead, he flexed his fingers in place and slowly awakened. He was flat on his back, laying low to the dirt ground on a cot in a tent.<p>

"He's awake, Mamma!"

Dread moved his head to see who was speaking. It was a little girl. He heard shuffling behind him. A woman appeared from behind with a bucket.

"Tabitha, go get some more water, please," she said to the girl, handing her the bucket.

As soon as the girl left the tent, the woman bent down next to him and began attending to his wounds.

"I know who you are," she said in a low terse voice, as she wrapped his bleeding arm in a bandage. "My daughter doesn't, so you best be keeping your mouth shut."

"I…who?…" he replied, not knowing how to respond. He was baffled by this woman who was offering him help.

"I told her that you're one of us from the shelter, that you escaped from being digitized. I explained to her that you look the way you do because they wanted to turn you into some kind of Bio-Dread. I know…the irony, right?" she cracked the joke in a bitter tone. "Such things we have to tell our children these days. She saw her daddy…my husband…get digitized. Right in front of her eyes. She's had nightmares every night since. We all do, thanks to you."

Dread stared at the woman as she finished pinning the bandage on his arm and then reached for the bottle of disinfectant to start cleaning up his face. She continued to talk to him in an unpleasant tone. "So you're probably wondering why I'm even helping you at all. I should have just let you die a slow painful death out in the dessert under the blazing hot sun. God knows you deserve to die…"

The little girl returned with the bucket full of water. "Here, Mamma."

"Thank you, sweetie. Go play with the other children outside. But stay in the village, okay? Don't go wandering off." The woman smiled sweetly at her daughter, but after the girl left, she turned back to look at Dread and the smile vanished.

She continued on with her rant. "But if I were to just let you die, that would be the easy way out. Too well-and-good for you. Where's the justice in that? No. You don't get the easy way out. The punishment you deserve should be one of long and drawn out anguish here on this God-forsaken planet you've decimated, facing those you have tormented and allowing your fate to be in their hands."

Her words confused and scared him. "Who…who am I?" he said as he stared back at her blankly.

* * *

><p>Jennifer's conscience slowly came back to her. Each time she re-awakened, she had to remind herself of the tragedy that had transpired. Before opening her heavy eyelids, she wondered how long she had been out this time and what she had missed. She already noticed that two things were different; her pain had subsided to a more tolerable level, and no one was holding her hand. Was she alone? No, she remembered. Jon had promised her that someone would be there with her. She decided to open her eyes and rejoin the world. She smiled when she saw Tank sitting next to her bed. He was reading a book.<p>

"Hi," she quietly greeted him.

"Pilot!" he looked up and returned her smile. "It's good to see you awake! Feeling better?"

"Somewhat," she was able to admit. She cleared her groggy throat. "So you'll have to catch me up. What's going on? I feel like I was out of it for a long time."

"You were. But the doctor here got you all fixed up. He says you're going to be weak for a while but you're going to be fine."

"Where are the others?"

Tank told her all about blowing up the Base and the difficulty that they had getting to the hideout and about Dread and Locke.

"I can't believe Dread could be gone!" Jennifer said in shock. "So who's in charge of the Empire?"

"Good question. We really don't know what's going on; we've been focused on you. Maybe the guys will know more when they get back."

"I hope they can find Locke. He probably knows more than he's letting on."

"I agree. He's sneaky. You should have seen how mad the Captain was, especially when he found out that it was _his_ skybike that Locke stole."

Jennifer groaned. "Oh no. He loves that skybike."

"That skybike isn't the only thing he loves," Tank said with a glint in his eye.

Jennifer knew what he was getting at and smiled sheepishly as a slight blush crept to her cheeks. "What are you reading?" she asked to change the subject as she pointed to the book in his lap. She and Tank shared a love of literature, but she was still learning about all of the classics from Mentor and had a lot to catch up on in order to match Tank's knowledge. One wouldn't know by looking at the strong giant, but he was a walking library.

"This book was the only personal item I was able to recover from my quarters before we left. It's called the Good Book."

"The Good Book…" Jennifer thought out loud, contemplating on where she heard that title before. "Oh! The quote that was printed on the banner from Haven that you gave me- didn't you say that was from the Good Book?"

Tank saw the excitement in her eyes. "That's right. Would you like me to read some it to you?"

"Yeah, I'd like that."

"The Good Book is made up of lots of other books. I was reading from the book of Isaiah, the same book that the quote on the banner came from. It talks of hope. We could use some hope right now."

Jennifer nodded in agreement. "So what does it say?"

"Those who hope shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall walk and not be weary; they shall run and not faint."

Jennifer thought hard on the words that Tank read. "We've lost our home, our resources. This war has been a never-ending battle. So many lives have been lost. So much destruction. So many of the people that are left have given up hope. I think it's important that we don't lose hope, even after everything we've been through. I'm not going to give up."

"I'm not either," Tank smiled as he saw Jennifer tiring. "You should sleep more. Renew your strength."

Jennifer closed her eyes and nudged her head back into the comfortable hollow of the pillow. As she drifted back to sleep, Tank heard her speak softly, "...with wings like eagles…"

* * *

><p>AN: In episode 8 "And Study War No More," Tank referenced the Holy Bible as "The Good Book." I think that "hope" is a very important concept to the Power Team and thus have centered my title and story around the concept of hope. The verse on the banner from Haven in Episode 8 is from Isaiah 2:4. The verse I am quoting here about hope is from Isaiah 40:31, and in the NIV translation of the Bible it actually reads: "But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will walk and not grow weary, they will run and not be faint."<p> 


	12. Chapter 12- Tech City Here We Come

Hawk and Scout flew their skybikes low across the dessert horizon near Sector 3 searching for the supposed wreckage of Dread's ship. Sitting on the backseat of Hawk's skybike, Jonathon was just about ready to call off the search when he spotted a pile of debris.

"There. Two clicks, nine o'clock," he said over the radio headset.

"Got it," Scout replied. "Readings indicate it's Dread's."

"Any signs of life?" Jonathon asked in response.

"Negative."

"Let's land and check it out. Proceed with caution."

Reaching the twisted metal that once was Dread's personal ship, they dismounted the skybikes and took out their scanners. Scout was the first to reach the cockpit.

"It's empty!" he yelled.

"I'm not getting any readings on any type of remains," Hawk added.

Jonathon walked around the circumference of the crash. "No footprints leading out, but the way this wind is blowing the sand around, they could have been covered up by now. So where'd he go?"

"Maybe Soaron carried him out?" Hawk suggested.

Scout rolled his eyes in disappointment. "Great. Well, so much for wishing him dead."

"He still could be," Hawk reasoned. "Even if he was rescued, we don't know the extent of his injuries."

"He's mostly metal!" Scout argued back.

"We're not going to find out anything else by standing here," Jonathon broke in. "We're wasting time. We have to find Locke. I really hate to say it, but he could be the key to finding out what's going on."

* * *

><p>"So you really don't know who you are, do you?"<p>

Dread stared back at the woman who held out a bowl of stew for him to eat. Now that his arm was feeling better, he was able to grasp the bowl with both hands as he sat up in the cot, freshly dressed in borrowed clothing. The feel of the linen tunic against his skin was very strange to him, comforting yet unaccustomed. He didn't even realize he was hungry until the aroma of the stew wafted through his nostrils. Hungry? Was that the sensation he was experiencing? When was the last time he ate anything? When he took a swallow of the stew, it felt like a foreign object sliding down his throat, but he was amazed at the taste and the satisfaction it gave him, so he kept eating it.

In between bites, he tried to think of his name and replied to her question. "I think my name is…Taggart…Lyman Taggart. I don't…I don't remember what happened to me."

"Well, Mr. Taggart. Maybe you're playing with me, maybe you're not- you do have quite the bump on your head. But regardless of your amnesia, you're still gonna get what's coming to you."

"I don't understand. Why do you speak to me in such a manner? What is it that you think I've done? Who do you think I am?"

"An abomination," she seethed. "You're Lord Dread, ruler of the Dread Empire, destroyer of human life. You're hell-bent on turning us all into machines thinking you can create some kind of machine-world utopia. You destroyed our planet in the Metal Wars. You rip children away from their parents and brainwash them with your evil litanies. You raise them up into legions of men and women who follow your every lead; they kill innocent people all in your name. You have no remorse, no heart. You're a monster. You digitize our loved ones and annihilate our homes. You have us hiding out in the dessert in tents, fending for our lives, living on scraps like pigs, waiting for the next inevitable attack from the Bio-Dreads. None of us are ever truly safe. You've taken away our freedom, our humanity, our future."

Metal Wars? Bio-Dreads? These things sounded vaguely familiar to him for a reason he did not know, but to think he was responsible for it- it didn't make sense.

"No, this can't be," he replied quietly, inwardly trying to remember anything that would trigger his memory into what was really going on here, hopefully grabbing at something that would prove the woman wrong. This woman obviously wouldn't care no matter what he might say, he thought. She clearly had a vendetta against him.

"First thing tomorrow morning I'm sending out the distress signal to alert Captain Power. You'll be taken into custody and then you'll meet your fate. So you better rest up, because it's the last peaceful rest you'll ever get."

Power…why did that name sound familiar to him?

* * *

><p>Scout took the lead in following the transmitter's signal from Jonathon's stolen skybike. They were somewhat disdained to learn that the trail led them to Tech City.<p>

"Didn't think we'd ever have to come back to this creepy place," Hawk said as they landed in the vicinity of where just months before they had met up with Mindsinger, the woman who uploaded Jonathon into the Cyberweb through a virtual access link, the process of which almost killed him.

"It makes sense that Locke would hang out here," Jonathon replied.

As the three men dismounted the skybikes, they were immediately thrown off by their surroundings; this wasn't the same city that they remembered. The lights, the sounds, the music, the energy of the city, the tripped out people- all were gone.

"Wait, are you sure this is Tech City?" Jonathon asked.

"Hey- my global position device never lies!" Scout announced, hurt that his Captain would second-guess his navigational skills.

Jonathon popped open his scanner. The incessant beeping sound it made told him that his skybike's transmitter was just around the corner of the building that they were in front of. They made their way around and sure enough, there in the fog sat his beloved skybike, unharmed but abandoned.

"Isn't this Mindsinger's place?" Hawk said, squinting his eyes and tilting his head upward at the damaged building, trying to pick out any familiar markings.

"Yeah," Jonathon replied. "Looks like the Bio-Dreads finished this place. Dread probably ordered it; I'm sure he didn't like the fact that we were able to get some of his data from the Cyberweb."

"Captain, if we were able to get data from the Cyberweb, then Locke…"

"…must be inside trying to do the same," Jonathon nodded as he finished Hawk's thought. "You think it would still work after all the damage that's been done to the city?"

"If the system's been damaged, Locke certainly is tech-savvy enough to be able to bring it back to life," Scout offered.

"Right. Okay, we go in. Let's find out what that weasel is up to. Stay sharp."

Going in with guns drawn, they crept through the building, stepping over debris and moving under and over fallen beams from a partial roof collapse. There were no bodies lying around which meant that the inhabitants were probably digitized before the damage had been done. It was common for the Bio-Dreads to destroy a town after digitizing its people so that the New Order could rise up from the ashes.

It didn't take long to reach the room where Mindsinger's access point to the Cyberweb was. Electricity had been restored to this central area, and they found Locke sitting silently in a chair hooked up to the virtual reality goggles, unaware that he now had company in the room with him. He was jacked in to the Cyberweb!

Hawk's first instinct was to flip the switch off, but Scout stopped him.

"No, wait! He's in too far. If you do it that way you might kill him and we'd lose any information he might have."

"So what are we supposed to do, wait until he comes out of it? How does that even work?" Jonathon asked impatiently.

Scout studied the console. "He's got himself on a timer. Fifteen more minutes and it automatically fades out and safely brings him back to reality."

Jonathon frowned and crossed his arms. "Forget that, there's got to be another way. I want to talk to him NOW."

"I think there's a way to speed up the timer," Scout said as he wangled some of the buttons and moved some switches. "Bringing him to a slow fade….now."

Locke was startled as he jumped up from the chair. "What the…"

Taking off the virtual goggles, he wasn't surprised to see who was in the room with him. All guns were pointed at him. He held his head in his hands and closed his eyes tight in pain. "Major brain freeze, man! Information overload!"

"You're going to tell us everything you just found out," Jonathon threatened, stepping closer with his gun still drawn.

"Easy, Live Wire! I was planning on it!" Locke opened his eyes and took a stance of surrender, holding his hands up in the air.

"Do you know what happened to Dread?" Hawk asked.

"Couldn't get a read on him. He's off the grid, man. Access denied. He's no longer connected to Overmind."

"So he's dead?" Scout hoped.

"He disappeared into thin air. No one in the Empire knows where he is. But that's the least of our worries."

"What do you mean?" Jonathon pressed.

"Mass hysteria at Volcania. Overmind's tripped into hyperpower mode. He used all of his stored-up energy to create himself a new army of Bio-Dreads that are able to mass-digitize whole areas in one sweep. There are literally hundreds of these things- I saw them! Bigger than Blastarr! They're being called "The Silencers." I saw Over Units and Dread Youth running for their lives- they were screaming- many of them have already been digitized, others have escaped. The more people that get digitized, the more powerful Overmind becomes. There's, like, no one left at Volcania except for machines, and just before you pulled me out of the Cyberweb, one of them grabbed on to my link. They know I'm here and their coming for me. We've got to get out of here."

"If you're lying…" Jonathon tightened his jaw, mulling over how much of Locke's story to believe.

Scout took some readings from his scanner. "Uh, Captain, I don't think he is. We've got trouble headed our way."

"How many?"

Locke let out an incredulous nervous laugh. "How many? Look, you don't understand. One or nine-hundred, it's not going to matter. We're dead meat if we stay here. There's no weapon you can throw at them that will make a difference; there's no way to take them down. Even your power suits aren't going to save you. This is the start of the end of the human race. Game over- you copy?"

Hawk was getting rather fed up with the way Locke was seemingly blowing things out of proportion. No one tells the Power Team that they aren't capable of taking down Bio-Dreads, especially not after what Pilot did. Stepping closer to Locke, Hawk started to go off. "Now you listen here, Locke-"

He was cut short when the ground started to shake in rhythm. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom.

"They're here!" Locke panicked. "Run!"

Before they could stop him, Locke let his fear get the best of him and he took off in a terrifying run, not thinking about which direction would be the safest.

"Great," Jonathon sighed.

"I suppose we should go after him," Scout said.

"Do we have to?" Hawk asked with sarcasm.

Jonathon groaned at the thought. "Better power up. Let's see what's we're up against."

"Scanner reads there's only one of these things out there, whatever it is," Scout added.

After the men shouted the command to power up, the suits gave out the warning that they were only at 10% power level.

"Guess it's been a while since we've been able to charge up," Scout reminded the group.

Jonathon shrugged. "It'll have to do for now. I'm sure we can rig something up later using the electric receptacle back at the hideout."

The "booms" were getting louder and closer as the ground continued to shake. Jonathon plotted their next move. "All right. We grab Locke and head to the skybikes and get out of here. Quick and easy. If we can throw some shots at this thing to stall it, do it, but let's not waste too much time and resources. Got it?"

They rounded out of the building just in time to see Locke trying to take cover, but The Silencer easily spotted him. Jonathon halted Hawk and Scout from running out any further and they took cover back from where they came from, hiding in the darkness of the building's entrance. Peering around the door frame, they could still see what was going on without being spotted.

Locke was telling the truth. They were getting their first look at what a "Silencer" actually was, and the sight was enough to paralyze them. All they could do was watch. If they interfered, they knew they'd be in trouble. This type of Bio-Dread was unlike any other. Standing at least ten stories tall, the gigantic hunk of metal moved along the ground with precision despite its weighty mass which was causing the ground to shake with every step it took and leaving craters in the earth in its wake. Haunting red laser eyes burned through anything that got in its way. When it spotted Locke, its enormous torso opened up wide and a bright white light swept across the entire area. The Power Team instinctively knew that if the light touched them, they would be digitized, so they moved a bit deeper into the building where the light was not penetrating. It was such a bright light that the men had to look away so that their eyes wouldn't get damaged. They heard Locke scream, but then everything went silent. When they opened their eyes to glance back at the monster, they knew Locke had been digitized. The Silencer's torso closed back up just as wings came sprouting of its arms, and then it shot up in the air like a rocket and flew away with super-sonic speed.

Now their name was understood. The town was once again eerily silent. They were made to silence the earth from the human race. It took a minute before anyone said anything, but then Scout interrupted the silence.

"Captain-" he was about to say what they were all thinking. How in hell were they supposed to defeat these things? A team of five against hundreds of indestructible massive machines capable of digitizing them before they even had a chance to fight back? And the speed in which they could fly- even the Jumpship couldn't fly that fast. Making a getaway would be impossible.

"Don't," Jonathon quietly cut off Scout. "Don't say it. It's not over."

Hawk and Scout looked disbelieving at their Captain. "It's not over," he repeated, this time with more volume in his voice. "This is not how it ends."

Wordlessly and noticeably dejected, they got on their skybikes and flew back to the hideout. All the way back, Jonathon was trying to convince himself to believe his own words.


	13. Chapter 13- Too Much Too Soon

Taggart watched Tabitha as she played in the tent with her doll. It wasn't much of a doll, it was just some pieces of scrap cloth roughly sewn together and lightly stuffed to form the head, body, arms and legs. It had black buttons for the eyes and a stitched-on red mouth forever stuck in a smile. He was in awe of how she was treating the doll as if it were a real human. She even called it by a human name.

"You must be hungry, Annie," Tabitha said to her doll as she cradled it in her arms. She took one of the bowls and a spoon from the supply area and started to feed her baby with food that was invisible to Taggart, but seemingly not invisible to Tabitha. She dipped the spoon into the empty bowl and then touched the empty spoon to the sewn-on mouth of the doll.

"What are you feeding her?" Taggart asked in curiosity. Tabitha's mother was near and he could feel her hot gaze burning upon him to make sure he wasn't going to do anything to harm her daughter.

"Baby food, silly! She's only a baby! It's her favorite!"

Taggart was taken aback by her answer. "But there is nothing in the bowl," he replied, confused.

"Yes there is. See?" She lifted the bowl up to his cot for him to see. He looked into it. It was empty.

Tabitha's mother stepped in to interrupt. She was not comfortable with him talking to her daughter. "Sweetie, I think it's time for you and your baby to take a nap."

"But Mamma, Annie hasn't finished her dinner!"

"Oh, but you've done such a good job feeding her that now she's getting sleepy. See how her eyes are getting droopy? She wants to go to bed!"

Taggart continued to observe Tabitha as she ever-so-carefully placed her doll under the blankets of the mattress that was lying on the dirt floor of the tent. She then placed a kiss to the doll's forehead and got under the blankets herself. Her mother went over and placed a kiss on Tabitha's forehead and said, "Sleep well, Sweetie. I love you."

Taggart was dumbfounded by the woman's actions and words. It wasn't long before Tabitha was sleeping soundly. She looked safe and secure under the blankets. Taggart didn't know why, but somewhere deep inside of him he almost felt like smiling when he watched Tabitha. How she played with her doll and how she looked now in her sleep- there was just something about her…maybe it was her innocence? Was that the word for it? And her mother loved her. It was a strange concept to grasp, yet in seeing love being displayed, it seemed to not be a bad thing and perhaps could even bring about a pleasant feeling, he thought, to be on the receiving end of it. Had anyone ever told him they loved him? He didn't remember ever having the experience. He continued to mull over these new feelings until he himself fell asleep.

* * *

><p>"Am I glad to see you guys," Tank said as he came out to greet Jonathon, Hawk and Scout as they arrived back from Tech City. "Cypher and his medical team had to leave. They got a distress signal from some of their men guarding Sector 2. Something about escaped Dread Youth and a new kind of Bio-Dread?"<p>

"How long ago did they leave?" Jonathon asked.

"About an hour ago."

"Scout, get on the Jumpship's com link and warn Cypher what they're up against," Jonathon ordered.

Scout nodded and trotted off towards the Jumpship.

Tank looked questioningly at his Captain. "Care to share what's going on?"

Jonathon took in a deep breath and slowly released it. "In a minute. How's Pilot?"

"Come see for yourself. Maybe you can talk some sense into her."

Jonathon and Hawk shared a questioning look as they headed inside.

Entering the room that had become a makeshift hospital, the men expected to see Jennifer in bed. Instead, they saw her aggressively attempting to do a pull up on the pipe that ran along the top of the wall in the corner of the room. She was struggling to hold herself up. Her arms started shaking and she almost lost her vision due to the exertion and her body started to betray her. She grunted in pain as one by one her fingers lost their grip on the pipe. Knowing that she was about to fall, Tank scurried under her and caught her just in time.

"How did you even get up there? I leave you alone for just one minute…" Tank scolded as he continued to hold her up from under her arms so as not to disturb her ribcage that he knew to be still tender. It was clear she was winded and had pushed herself almost to the point of fainting, and Tank knew if he set her down on the ground, she wouldn't have the strength to stand.

"Pilot, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Jonathon gasped in astonishment.

"Tank, put me down!" she yelled, ignoring Jonathon's angry outburst.

"Gladly," Tank replied, gently setting her back on the bed where she should have been in the first place.

"Stupid broken wrist," she muttered while rubbing the sore spot. As she sat there on the bed, she almost looked like herself. Her hair was neatly pulled back and she was dressed in a fresh set of fatigues that the guys were able to save for her from the Base. But the ghostly white coloring in her face, the way she held her body stiff from soreness, her winded expression, and the visible bruises and bandages scattered all over her were signs that she still had a long way to go to a full recovery.

Hawk stood there shaking his head in amusement, quietly chuckling. He knew Jennifer would want to be out of that bed as soon as possible trying to prove herself. It was part of her stubborn nature. Should she have been doing was she was doing? Absolutely not, but he took it as a good sign that she was on her way back to feeling better, and that made him happy. Jonathon, on the other hand, was not at all amused.

"Jennifer! What the hell do you think you're doing?" he repeated, still waiting for an answer from her.

Scout entered then, wondering what all the commotion was about. _"What'd I miss?"_ he whispered to Hawk.

"_Pilot trying to do too much too soon,"_ Hawk whispered back.

"_Oh boy, here we go…"_ Scout reacted with a smile. _"I knew this was coming."_

"_She can be a handful, that one,"_ Tank joined in. The three men stood back and prepared to be entertained as they watched the battle unfold between Captain and Pilot.

"I got bored," Jennifer replied nonchalantly, knowing that any answer she gave would not be acceptable. She was mad at herself for getting caught. She never intended for anyone to see what she was doing.

"You got BORED?" Jonathon raised his voice another level, his worry and concern coming out as anger for her seemingly careless attitude towards her own well being. "You almost DIED yesterday! It's WAY too soon for you to be up and around. You are NOT getting out of this bed again until I SAY you can, you hear me?"

While it was true that it was too soon for her to be out of bed, the guys stood there cringing at Jonathon's approach. They knew she would not heed to being bossed around.

Now it was Jennifer's turn to raise her voice. "I'm NOT sitting here all day when I'm feeling BETTER and there's WORK to do."

"Are you telling me you're planning on disobeying my orders AGAIN…after what we just went through?"

Hawk whispered to Tank and Scout, _"She hates it when he pulls rank. Doesn't he know that he's not going to get anywhere that way?"_

Jennifer had a reply to that but took a deep breath and thought better of it. She continued her argument with a different tactic. "Tank told me that the Jumpship needs repair, and with what I heard about Cypher's team and what they're dealing with right now- Dread Youth escaping Volcania? I know what that's like- it's my life's story. I want to help. I NEED to help. I want back out there."

"_Oooh, nice counter, Jen,"_ Scout whispered on the sideline. _"Hit him with your Dread Youth past."_

"_I think he's softening,"_ Tank whispered back as he watched Jonathon's facial expression change.

Jonathon sighed out of frustration and sympathy and love for the woman before him. Lowering his voice and cupping her cheek affectionately with the palm of his hand, he replied, "I know you do. But it's too soon. Please… You were on your death bed when we brought you here and you just had several major surgeries…I thought I was going to lose you… please just rest for a few more days without any argument?"

"_Aw, Mr. Smooth is groveling with puppy dog eyes. Think it will work?"_ Scout looked to Hawk and Tank. They shrugged in response and continued to watch to see what Jennifer's reaction would be.

"On one condition," Jennifer boldly stated.

Jonathon shook his head. "Jennifer, I don't want to argue with you. Now get back in bed." He dropped his hand from her face and opened up the blankets and motioned for her to get under them. He looked about ready to blow up in anger again as she sat there in insubordination, unmoving.

"_Nope. Groveling didn't work. I think we better step in and help,"_ Tank suggested to the guys.

Hawk agreed and cleared his throat to make his presence in the argument known. "Uh, Captain, if I may make a suggestion?"

Jennifer gave Hawk a hopeful look as if to say 'will you help me out here?'

"The Jumpship does need repair, and you know that ship prefers her touch to mine. I'm thinking she's probably well enough to sit in bed and tinker with some of the smaller engine parts if we bring them to her. It will at least give her something to do, keep her out of trouble," Hawk winked at Jennifer.

"Fine," the Captain relented but added, "As long as she stays in bed and it keeps her out of trouble." He gave her a stern look that told her that she better stay out of trouble, or else.

"Fine," Jennifer agreed, giving Jonathon a look of satisfaction in knowing that she at least got some of her way, that she could lend a hand to help the cause.

Then the Captain looked around and for the first time noticed that his team was finally all together in one place again. "But first things first, we need to talk about what we just learned from Locke."

"Where is he, anyway?" Tank asked.

Jonathon spent the next few minutes bringing Tank and Jennifer up to speed.

"So what are we going to do now, Jon?" Hawk asked. "Got a game plan?"

Jonathon nodded. "As soon as the Jumpship is repaired, we're going to head to our new home where we can safely do some strategizing and regroup."

"New home?" Scout asked. "And where would that be?"

"It's time to let you all in on a secret that was sworn to be kept only between me and my dad. We had hoped that this day would never come, that it wouldn't be needed."

"What are you talking about?" Hawk's interest was piqued seeing that he was best friends with Stuart Power for many long years, and this was the first he'd heard about any secret.

"When my dad was building the Base, he put me in charge of the supply runs. One day I went to go pick up a particular shipment and I noticed that there were two of everything ordered. I asked him about it when I got back, and he told me it was a mix up. But he was acting strange and I didn't believe him. So I kept on him about it and he finally told me I was never meant to see the second set of supplies- they were supposed to be shipped out to the Base he was building simultaneously in the Arctic.

"Your dad had a Base built in the Arctic?" Hawk was shocked.

"Yes. An exact replica."

"Whoah," Scout exclaimed, stunned at this new information.

"Unbelievable," Hawk spoke, feeling a bit left out. "Why didn't he tell me?"

"He wanted to, Matt, but the more people that knew about it the more nervous he was about Taggart finding out. He didn't want to burden you with the secret should you ever have been captured and tortured for information. It was for that same reason Dad didn't really want me to know about it, either, but it came down to the fact that I was family and he was grooming me to take over, so he relented and found it necessary to tell me about it."

"Wait," Jennifer cut in, "How'd he get everything up there so discreetly? None of the transit gates lead that far north."

"He had an 'in' at the Pentagon, just before the Government disbanded. They set up an Army convoy for him. They called it 'Operation North Star'. It was classified."

"So if there's no transit gate leading to it, how are we supposed to get there?" Tank asked.

"The old-fashioned way. It'll be a long flight- which is why we need the Jumpship back in top shape. Once we get there, there will be resources available to install a transit gate to the area. For security reasons Dad didn't want one online unless the Base would actually be used."

"Captain, what about Cypher?" Jennifer wondered. "Shouldn't we help?"

"We'll keep in contact through Freedom Two. Once we get settled and come up with a strategy, we'll join the fight. Better get to work, people. Let's get out of here as soon as possible."


	14. Chapter 14- The Attack of the Silencers

"How's it coming?" Jonathon ducked his head inside the cockpit of the Jumpship.

"Circuit boards are a mess," Scout replied as he crawled out from under one of the consoles. "Here, can you give this to Pilot? She should be done with the other one I gave her earlier."

Jonathon took the fried board from Scout and stared at it, turning it over in his hands. "Actually, she's not. I just came from her room and she was sound asleep with spanner and circuit board in hand."

"Sleeping on the job, eh?" Scout chuckled.

"She just didn't want to admit that she still needs to rest."

"No surprise there!"

Jonathon nodded solemnly in agreement, but Scout noticed the worried look that seemed to be plastered permanently on the Captain's features as of late.

"She's going to be fine, Captain. The worst is over. It's just going to take a while for a complete recovery."

"That's what I'm worried about. I don't want her to do anything stupid that will set her back. It's going to be hard for her to realize that she's going to have to take it slow."

"Hard on you, too," Scout responded. "Look, Captain, I don't know if you want my advice or not, but the more overprotective you are of her, the more she's going to fight and push against you. Pilot hates being coddled."

"I realize that. It's one of the reasons why I've held back my feelings for her for so long. It's my job to make sure each one of us comes back home from a battle. But when it comes to Jennifer…after what happened…I just…I have this fierce need to make sure she's safe. I don't want ever want to come that close to losing her again."

"The rest of us feel the same, and you know we're all going to be watching out for her. But she's a good soldier and she wants back in the fight. All I'm saying is just don't smother her, okay?"

Jonathon relaxed a little and cracked a smile. "I'll try not to," he said as he patted Scout on the shoulder.

Tank walked into the cockpit to give his report. "Captain, all weapons systems are back online."

"Great work, Tank. I've got a new job for you. Come with me. We need to rig up a source to re-energize our power suits."

* * *

><p>Hawk sat at the working table carefully soldering two wires together on the circuit board. The crackle and snapping sound of the sparks that flew out from the tool gently awoke Jennifer from her light sleep as she lay in bed a few feet away.<p>

"I thought that was my job," Jennifer spoke up while grimacing as she painfully used her sore muscles and aching bones to push herself up into a sitting position.

Hawk turned around to look at her. "Sorry, kid. I didn't mean to wake you. Have a nice nap?"

Jennifer pouted in confusion. "I didn't realize I fell asleep."

Stopping his work, Hawk walked over and sat on the bed next to her. "You really do need the rest whether you think so or not. You know, you almost gave the Captain a heart attack when he saw you out of bed."

"I didn't mean to worry anybody. I just needed to see…" Jennifer trailed off and stared blankly into space.

"Hey," Hawk placed his hand on her arm. "It's going to take some time, but you'll be back. Good as new. I promise."

Jennifer looked him in the eye. "Hawk…I never got to thank you for what you did. You…you saved my life."

Hawk smiled and squeezed her arm. "I just kept thinking about my daughter Katie and how I never got to see her grow up into a strong woman like you. Jennifer, you're like a daughter to me, and I just couldn't stand the thought of losing you too. I had to do what I could to save you. I'm just so very glad you pulled through. We all are."

Jennifer reached over and gave him a hug. "I'm so lucky to have all of you as my family."

"No, kid, we're the lucky ones."

* * *

><p>"<em>My new world MUST prevail!"<em>

"_THIS is your new world?" Captain Power exclaimed, looking over the vast destruction of the land. "THIS is what you've left humanity?"_

"_This too will pass! It will be WORTH it!"_

"_NOTHING is worth THIS!" Power answered as the nuclear waste continued to burn and bubble across the land under the dark and angry polluted sky._

_Then Dread looked over to his right and saw a ghost image of his former self, of what he used to be, a mere mortal man- Lyman Taggart._

_The ghost spoke: "He's right my poor friend. You know he's right."_

_Captain Power added more salt to the wound. "You can't change what you were, Dread- what you are- under that metal!"_

"_NOOOOOOOO! The New Order must succeed! The will of The Machine will NOT be denied!"_

Taggart swiftly awoke from his dream, his breathing haggard. But that wasn't a dream; it was a memory of a time not too long ago when he tried to intimidate Captain Power in the cyberweb. He remembered now- who he was, what he had become, what he had accomplished by being linked to Overmind. He was responsible for everything. All of it. The destruction of the planet. The Bio-Dreads and the army of Overunits and Dread Youth that obeyed his every evil command under his dictatorship. The digitization of humanity. It terrified him. What had he become? He and Stuart Power were trying to STOP war when they created Overmind. How did it come to this? Overwhelming grief and shame hit him full force deep in the pit of what was left of his soul.

He wasn't the only one with bad dreams. In the corner of the tent, he heard Tabitha whimpering in her sleep. Was she re-living the moment her father was digitized right in front of her eyes? Her mother dropped down by her bedside and lightly caressed her face, soothing her with quiet shushing sounds until Tabitha calmed and fell back into a deeper sleep.

But she would not sleep long. A few minutes later, there was a commotion outside the tent. People were running, yelling, crying out in alarm. They were under attack by Bio-Dreads! The ground started to shake as The Silencers made their way through the village.

"Mamma!" Tabitha shrieked as her mother jumped up and opened the entrance to the tent, peeking out to see what was going on. She stared wide-eyed at the chaotic scene; four Bio-Dreads of which the likes she'd never seen before paraded through the rows of tents, towering over the people who were scurrying around like ants trying to get away. She heard the terrible screams of the people that were caught in the blinding light of The Silencers, and in mere seconds they were digitized right before her eyes.

"Tabitha!" the woman screamed as she shut the opening to the tent and snatched her crying daughter out of the bed. "It's going to be okay, sweetie! Shhhhh….it's going to be okay! We have to leave now!"

She knew of a cave in the valley not too far away where they could run and hide. The woman wondered what to do about Taggart. She looked at the cot where he had been sleeping but he wasn't there! She looked up just in time to see the corner of his cloak disappear out of the tent as he slipped out and escaped.

"No!" she yelled as she ran out of the tent with Tabitha clinging around her neck. There were people everywhere running around and screaming. She tried to keep an eye on Taggart who ran out into the crowd, but she lost sight of him in the pandemonium. She was angry that he was getting away, but she knew she had to let him go and concentrate on her own survival as The Silencers kept on with their terrifying assault. She got caught up in the swarm of people and was pushed and trampled to the ground in the process as the villagers raced to get out of The Silencers' path. Tabitha spilled out of her arms and was torn apart from her and carried away in a sea of flailing arms and legs.

"MAMMA!" Tabitha roared.

"TABITHA!" the woman screamed in horror as she watched her daughter being swept farther and farther away from her. Picking herself off the ground, she frantically ran after her daughter. She wasn't quite caught up to her when a flash of bright light illuminated the crowd. Not wanting to look behind her, she could hear the digitizer machines revving up. She kept running with all her might. Squinting her eyes in the light, she barely made out the silhouette of Tabitha. She grabbed Tabitha's arm and pulled her up once again into her arms. Then in what seemed like slow motion, she felt someone run into her full-force and knock her to the ground. Whoever knocked her down fell to the ground with her, and the two of them were connected in such a way as to create a cocoon in which Tabitha was safely tucked in the middle between them. They rolled for a few yards until they were out of range from the light source of The Silencer. Sitting up, the woman saw that everyone had been digitized in the spot where they had been just a few seconds ago.

"Get up!" she heard a voice say. The woman coughed up some of the dirt that she swallowed during the fall. The voice spoke again. "You don't have much time! Run! NOW!"

Blinking a few times and hugging Tabitha to her, she came to her senses and looked up at the man who had just saved their lives. "You? But…why?"

Taggart stood there, staring at her. He pulled the hood of his cloak over his face, hiding his hideous scars and his gory empty eye socket. The Silencer turned and began heading their way. Taggart took off running and disappeared once again from her line of vision into the crowd. The Silencer decided to follow Taggart, essentially leaving the woman alone. Holding Tabitha tight, she scrambled to her feet and ran the opposite way to safety towards the cave.


	15. Chapter 15- Distress Signal

Jonathon took one last look around on the Jumpship to make sure they had everything on board that they needed in order to make it safely to their Base in the Arctic. He was grateful that Cypher had taken care in providing extra food, fuel, and supplies for them so that they wouldn't have to waste time bartering with their usual contacts. The only thing they seemed to be missing was warmer clothes for the frigid temperatures that they would be encountering. They had plenty of blankets though, so he supposed that would do until they reached the Base. Hopefully his father had thought ahead when he built the place and stocked their quarters with plenty of warm clothing.

As Jonathon descended down the stairs of the Jumpship, his heart skipped a beat when he saw Jennifer approaching. Just the sight of her made him come alive, awakening all of his senses. It felt so good knowing that their feelings were out in the open. He wondered again for the thousandth time why it took them so long and how it was that they had been given a second chance.

"Ready to go?" he asked Jennifer as she walked feebly towards him. Hawk was by her side with his arm securely around her waist for support.

"Only if my ship is. Are you sure it's safe? I didn't get to inspect her!" she managed to joke despite feeling weak and winded from the long walk she just took from her room to get here.

"I'll have you know I spent hours inspecting every inch of this ship," Hawk retaliated with a smirk. "And I told her to be on her best behavior when we launch because her favorite pilot is on the injured list."

"Yeah, you better not forget I'm her favorite pilot," Jennifer teased lightheartedly.

It warmed Jonathon's heart just to see Jennifer up and walking. "Now how could we forget that?" the Captain said with a smile as he reached out his hand and Hawk passed her over to him.

Jonathon held her tight and provided strong and steady support as she gingerly ascended up the stairs that led into the Jumpship. Her legs felt like rubber when she reached the top. She paused for a moment and leaned against Jonathon to catch her breath.

"Feeling okay?" Jonathon asked as he noticed her labored breathing.

"Just a little weak," she admitted lowly.

"That was a long walk for you. Here, let's get you settled in."

He rounded the corner with her and all of the sudden he felt her tense up.

"What's wrong?" he asked immediately, searching her face for the answer.

"Blastarr!" she yelled out in warning. She saw the Bio-Dread's head and torso lying on the floor in the corner.

"No! It's okay!" Jonathon quickly waylaid her anxiety. "Scout disabled him. He's off the grid. He's not going to be regenerating."

"He's dead?" Jennifer looked closer at the menacing robot that almost ended her life a few days ago. She saw that he truly was dead and breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'm sorry. I should have told you we brought him on board. I wasn't thinking."

"No, it's okay…Dead? I can't believe it! What are we going to do with him?" she asked excitedly.

Jonathon liked her enthusiasm. "Well, I thought I'd leave that up to you and Scout. We have all of his pieces and parts. I was hoping you two could come up with a way to reprogram him somehow to our benefit."

"Sounds like fun!"

"Yeah, I thought you'd like that!"

Walking into the cockpit area where the other team members were already at their stations, he asked her, "Do you want to sit or lie down?"

"Sitting sounds good for something different. It feels good to be out of bed."

"Okay, you can sit in my chair for now, but if you get tired, you let me know."

"Your chair?" she asked in surprise.

"Don't get too excited. I'm still Captain," he answered with a chuckle as he helped to ease her into his chair. "I also happen to be co-pilot for now. I'll be sitting in your usual seat helping out Hawk until you get your strength back."

"Well, don't get too comfortable in _my_ chair. I plan on getting my strength back real soon."

He finished fastening her in and was suddenly transfixed to her sparkling eyes that were gazing back at him. No other woman had ever been able to touch his soul the way Jennifer did. How did he get so lucky that she was still here with him? He snuck a quick kiss to her forehead without anyone seeing. "I hope you do," he said seriously as he continued to stare back at her beautiful face and trace his thumbs across her cheeks.

"Captain, I'm picking up a distress signal," Scout interrupted, breaking the spell of the moment.

"Figures. We haven't even taken off yet!" Hawk said as he pushed some buttons to start his pre-flight check.

"Should we answer?" Scout waited for orders.

"It was my intention to head straight for the Base," Jonathon sighed with a hint of frustration as he made his way over to Scout. But he knew he couldn't just ignore a distress signal. He knew that many people were struggling to survive out in the wastelands and they counted on him and his team to be there in times of trouble. So the Captain quickly brushed aside his selfish ambition to get to their new home and instead asked, "Where's the signal coming from?"

"We're close enough to it. It's right around where Dread's ship went down."

"Isn't there a settlement near there? I remember seeing one when we flew by the last time."

"Well, yeah, at least there was until last night. Freedom Two reported that four Silencers attacked the area. Cypher's men were there to check it out after it happened but they didn't find any survivors."

"Maybe they missed someone," Tank piped in.

"Maybe," Jonathon said. "How long has it been since the signal was triggered?"

"The log shows it's been about thirty minutes," Scout answered.

"Anything on radar near the area?"

"Clear at the moment."

"Alright. Let's take a little side trip and check it out. Hawk, lay in the course."

* * *

><p>Landing safely near the cave where the distress signal was being broadcast, Jonathon, Scout, and Tank powered up and cautiously exited the Jumpship. The area looked to be another ghost town, yet Scout's tracker still beeped its resounding proclamation that someone was in need of help. Scout turned off the tracker to quiet the incessant pulsing sound of the signal.<p>

"Everybody stay sharp," the Captain warned as they continued on stealthily toward the cave.

Not knowing what they were in for, they halted just before the opening to the cave with Jonathon and Scout to the left of the entrance and Tank to the right. Not hearing any sounds, The Captain nodded at Tank to head in first with weapon ready. If this was a trap, they were coming in prepared.

Tank made his move into the cave first followed by Jonathon and Scout close behind. The form of a little girl curled up in a ball of blankets on the ground caused them to immediately draw down their weapons. Her fingers were wrapped around the hand-held device that gave out the distress signal.

"Is she…" Jonathon was afraid to ask.

Scout knelt down and ran his medical scanner over her. In relief he answered, "She's fine. She's just sleeping." Scout carefully removed the device from her hand and turned it off. The girl remained undisturbed in her sleep.

Jonathon looked around the cave. There wasn't much room; it provided just enough shelter from the elements and still allowed for some sunlight to peak in so they could see. The little girl was the only one here. There was no evidence that anyone else was around.

"She's alone," Jonathon surmised sadly.

"She can't be more than five years old. How did she know how to use the signal?" Scout wondered.

"Some kind of miracle," Tank whispered as he gazed down at the precious brown-haired little one.

"Come on," Jonathon said as he bent down and gently picked up the sleeping girl and cradled her in his arms. "We'll take her to The Passages. But before we leave, you two take one last look around just to make sure no one else is here."

* * *

><p>Taking cover in the scraggly bushes of the desert from a quarter-mile away, the woman watched in tears as she saw the Jumpship fly overhead.<p>

"I told you they would come for her," Taggart said. "She'll be safe now."

"And what about me?" the woman asked tentatively. She was only going along with his wishes in letting the Power Team take Tabitha because she knew it was the only way to keep her baby safe from future Silencer attacks.

"I saved your life, didn't I? You have to trust me." Taggart answered. "Do what I say and you will be able to see your daughter again. Now you said you knew of a transport vehicle I could use. Show me."


	16. Chapter 16- Tabitha's New Friend

The Jumpship was almost to The Passages when the child started whimpering and crying out for her "Mamma" while lying in the passenger bunk behind Tank.

"I was hoping she'd sleep through the whole trip," Hawk mentioned to Jonathon. "It breaks my heart knowing she's been separated from her family. Who knows if they're even alive."

Jonathan turned to Tank who was closest in proximity to the girl. "Why don't you see if you can calm her down? We're almost there, and then the psychologist at The Passages can spend some time with her."

"Me?" Tank replied in astonishment, shaking his head in disagreement. "A big guy like me? I'll only scare her. She needs a woman's touch. She's asking for her mother."

Jonathon wordlessly looked at Jennifer.

"Well don't look at me!" Jennifer nervously retaliated. "Just because I'm a woman, that doesn't mean I know about kids. Being raised by Overunits hardly qualifies me. Scout can-"

"Nuh Uh. Not me," Scout immediately shook his head in protest.

The girl started crying even louder and was now fully awake.

"Well we have to do something. Just try?" Jonathon pleaded to Jennifer.

She looked toward the girl and suddenly felt sympathy for her. Remembering how it felt it to be alone while escaping the Dread Youth and having no one there by her own side until the Power Team rescued her, Jennifer realized that maybe she did have something to offer this child.

"Okay," Jennifer quietly responded as she stood up on shaky legs. "Help me over there."

Jonathon steadied her as they made their way to the bunk in the back of the ship. Jennifer sat down next to the girl and then Jonathon went back to his seat to give them some privacy.

The girl hiccupped as she took in a gulp of air in between sobs. With wide eyes and wet cheeks, she jumped a bit as Jennifer lightly touched her arm.

"Shhhh, it's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you. It's okay. My name is Jennifer. What's yours?"

Jennifer was met with a silent scrutinizing stare from the girl as large tear drops dripped down from sad and scared eyes. Jennifer was grateful that at least the sobs had quieted down as the girl continued to assess Jennifer's trustworthiness.

"It's okay. You don't have to talk," Jennifer replied while wiping the girl's tears with a consoling touch. "We're here to help you. We're taking you to a safe place."

The girl looked around the ship and saw the rest of the team, each engrossed in their individual tasks as they pushed the ship to fly faster to The Passages. Returning her gaze back to Jennifer, the girl still seemed uncertain.

"I know you miss your Mamma," Jennifer said gently as she moved her fingers through the girl's soft brown hair in a calming motion. The girl seemed to relax a little but still remained silent. Knowing that Jennifer had the girl's full attention now, she added, "You know, whenever I'm sad, I like to be hugged. It helps me feel like I'm not alone. You aren't alone, Sweetie. I'll be your friend. I'll give you a hug if you want."

Little did Jennifer know that all it took for the girl to warm up to her was to hear a caring voice call her "Sweetie" just like how her mother called her. The girl jumped into Jennifer's arms, much to Jennifer's surprise. Jennifer held her tight against her chest, whispering soothing words to keep her from crying. She was finding it hard to breathe with this little one pressed tightly against her still-tender rib cage. But she didn't mind. If this is what it took to make the girl feel safe, she would continue to do it.

Jonathon snuck a peak at the two cuddled up on the bunk. A smile crossed his face as he realized just how quickly Jennifer was able to calm the girl and make her feel comfortable. He was so proud of how far she had come in allowing her human emotions to blossom ever since escaping the Dread Youth. She was a natural with kids and hadn't even known it, despite her own "unnatural" upbringing. He tucked this new-found fact away in his heart and found himself contemplating how someday she would be a great mother to their children. He instantly berated himself for daring to think so far ahead. One step at a time, he reminded himself. This damn war had to be won first, for one thing.

"Passages, this is the Jumpship, do you copy?" Scout called out after he switched the com link on.

"Copy that, Jumpship. This is the Passages. Good to hear your voice. We thought you were gonners."

"It was a close call, but Dread's never gonna keep us down. Mind if we drop in? We noticed you lifted the lockdown. We're coming in from the Wastelands. Got a little girl on board who needs your help finding her family."

"Affirmative, Jumpship. We've got an anxious mother here who's been waiting for you to drop her off."

The four men looked at each other and smiled over the good news. But something didn't make sense.

"That's good to hear, but what do you mean that she's been waiting for us?" Scout replied to The Passages.

"We don't know why, but she claims she knew you had her daughter."

Hawk gently set the Jumpship down in the hangar bay of The Passages.

"Well that's a little strange, don't you think?" Scout asked the guys after turning off the com link.

"At this point, I don't care," the Captain replied. "Let's just get this little girl to her mother and then we can be on our way."

Jonathon walked over to Jennifer who was still hugging their precious cargo to herself in her arms. Jennifer smiled shyly up at him at being caught enjoying cuddling with the little girl. Jonathon returned her smile and slowly bent down to their level and gently rubbed the girl's back to get her attention.

"Guess what?" Jonathon said quietly so as not to startle her. "We found your mother!"

"You did?" Jennifer asked quickly in surprise. "That was fast!"

"She's been waiting right here at The Passages," he informed her. You stay here; I'll take her."

"See? I told you everything was going to be okay!" Jennifer told the little one as she snapped her head up out of the hug. The girl turned apprehensively to look at Jon who was lifting her up out of Jennifer's grasp.

"It's alright. This is my friend, Jon. He's a nice man." she told the girl. "He's going to bring you to your mom!"

Jonathon set the girl down and she let him take her hand to lead her out of the Jumpship. But as they started walking out, the little girl turned back to look at Jennifer with a huge smile on her face. She quickly broke contact with Jonathon and ran back to the cargo hold, jumped into Jennifer's arms and gave her big hug.

"Bye Jennifer! Thank you!"

It was the first and only time the little girl spoke to her. And just as quickly as she came, she jumped right back off Jennifer's lap and ran back to Jonathon to grab his hand. Jennifer's heart swelled as she smiled and waved goodbye to her new friend that she would probably never see again even though a bond was made between them in such a short amount of time. Jonathon made eye contact with Jennifer and gave her a wink to nonverbally share that feeling with her just before turning to walk out of the Jumpship hand-in-hand with the little girl.

They didn't have to walk far. As soon as the little girl saw her mother, Jonathon let go of her hand and she ran into her mother's waiting arms.

"Mamma!"

"Oh Tabitha!" her mother cried as she picked her up and held her tightly. "Thank God you're alright!"

So her name is Tabitha, Jonathon noticed. Even though he had wanted to make this quick so they could get going, he couldn't help but be overcome by the emotion of the moment taking place before him. This is what he and his Team were all about; bringing families back together, restoring hope to the human race. He smiled and turned to head back into the ship, but the woman stopped him.

"Captain Power! Wait!"

The woman ran up to him with Tabitha still in her arms. "Thank you…thank you for taking care of my daughter. I hope she wasn't any trouble for you."

"You're welcome. No trouble at all," he replied kindly.

He looked into the woman's eyes and saw relief, but also something else. It was as if she wanted to say more, but she was being hesitant, holding back, like she was nervous to share what she had on her mind. And then he remembered what Scout said when they landed here, about how it was strange that she already knew they had her daughter.

"Is there something else you wanted to tell me?" he dared to ask her.

The woman looked unsure but still held his gaze as she mulled over whether or not to share her secret.

Jonathon prodded her. "We heard that you have been waiting here for our arrival. How did you know we had your daughter?"

"Captain, I…" she stopped and closed her mouth, thinking that she should just stay quiet. Taggart had told her to stay quiet.

Jonathon stood bewildered and waited for her to continue.

"Mother's intuition, I suppose," she said finally to answer his question.

"Well, glad we could help. Stay safe. Goodbye, Tabitha!" he said to the girl before heading back to the Jumpship. He had the strange feeling that there was more to the story, but it was time to head out, and it was obvious the woman didn't want to talk about it.

Just as his foot hit the first stair of the Jumpship, the woman apparently changed her mind.

"Captain! He's not dead!" she blurted out.

He turned around to look at her. "Who's not dead?" he asked, confused.

"I…I'm not supposed to talk about it…"

He slowly walked back up to her and studied the fear in her eyes.

"You know something. About Dread. Don't you?" he guessed.

She looked uneasy, still wondering about how much she should tell him.

"Not Dread. Taggart…Lyman Taggart."

Jonathon was taken aback and breathed in a gasp at the mention of that name. "What do you know?" he pleaded.

"I helped him recover from his injuries…his ship crashed near our settlement. I…I was going to give him up to you the next morning…but then The Silencers came. He…he saved my life…and Tabitha's life…"

"Where is he now?" Jonathon hurriedly asked, wondering if he was close by.

"Please," the woman continued. "Please don't go after him. He told me not to tell you about him. He said he was going to make everything right. He's not Dread anymore…something changed…he wants to set things right. I didn't believe him at first, but…I…I think he's telling the truth."

"Let me be the judge of that," the Captain replied bitterly. "You have to tell me where he went."

"My late husband used to fight in The Resistance. He had an old warbird ship. I let Taggart have it…it was the least I could do for him having saved Tabitha's life. He wouldn't tell me where he was going…he just took off."

"Thank you...what's your name?" Jonathon asked.

"Elizabeth."

"Thank you, Elizabeth. Thank you for telling me. It was the right thing to do. You should stay here at The Passages. You'll be safe here. If you'll excuse me, I need to inform my Team of this and we need to head out."

"Captain, please don't try to find him. He's going to fix it. He said he's going to fix everything. Just let him, and the war will be over! Please…spare his life."

Jonathon noted her concern and it made him wonder just how much Taggart really had changed. Or was it all a trick to get this woman to take pity on him so that he could escape?

"Until we figure out what Taggart is up to, we'll proceed with caution," he assured her.

Elizabeth watched with uncertainty as the Captain disappeared behind the closing hatch of the Jumpship. She stood back as the ship came to life and hovered out of the hangar bay and then sped out into the sky.

"Mamma, I'm hungry,"

Elizabeth smiled down on her daughter. "They have pancakes here! Would you like some?"

Tabitha nodded.

As she walked her daughter to their new living quarters, with all her might Elizabeth hoped that this was the beginning of the end of the war…as long as Taggart kept his promise and Captain Power didn't interfere.


	17. Chapter 17- Home Sweet Home

AN: Okay CP fans- did you hear the news? A reboot of the show is in the works! Soooooooo excited! Go to Captain Power's Facebook Page for a video featuring Gary Goddard, Tim Dunigan, and the writers talking about the developmental stages of a new CP TV series they are calling "Phoenix Rising!" They are starting over from the beginning, giving us more background on the Metal Wars. And my shipper heart is in love with the fact that they mentioned they will be delving in deeper with Jon and Jennifer's relationship. In honor of this exciting news, I just had to post this chapter. Things are gettin' a little steamy in the Jumpship...Enjoy! Oh, and by the way I decided to start putting in chapter titles. This story is getting to be a lot longer than I thought it would be, so I hope the titles help you remember what you have already read and where we are at in the story (but feel free to re-read chapters if you've forgotten)!

* * *

><p>They arrived in the Arctic Circle late into the night. Everyone on board the Jumpship was beyond tired, yet their ability to stay awake was kindled by their excitement of seeing their new home for the first time.<p>

Hawk slowed the ship and hovered into position. "We're right on top of the coordinates you gave, Captain, but I don't see anything! Where is it?"

"You're not supposed to see it. It's hidden, remember?" Jonathon replied. "Don't worry, it's here."

His crew stared out of the cockpit windshield, squinting their eyes through the swirling wind of snowflakes and huge snow drifts surrounding them to try to figure out where it was hidden.

"Mentor," Jonathon commanded. "Stand ready to run the Northstar Program, voice activation code Power-Niner-Three-Omega."

"Understood, Captain." After a few seconds of working, Mentor replied, "Program ready to be initiated."

The Captain looked around and eyed his teammates with a gleam in his eye. "Ready?"

"What, so this works like 'Open Sesame'?" Scout questioned, confused.

"Something like that," Jonathon replied with a smile. "Mentor, initiate Northstar Program on my mark….Mark."

Instantly they heard a low rumble around them. In the chilling night air under the blue light of the glowing moon, they saw an avalanche of heavy, deep snow tumbling down the glacial mountain in a majestic display of Mother Nature's power.

"Oh wow…" Jennifer said in awe. "I've never seen so much snow!"

"Definitely not like the mountains in Colorado," Hawk remarked.

When the avalanche settled, the side of the mountain was revealed and the hangar bay door opened automatically, beckoning them to fly inside.

"Woooo Hooooo!" Scout yelled. "Honey, I'm home!"

Tank hit Scout in the shoulder with his fist as punishment for the lame joke, but he shared in Scout's enthusiasm for being home.

It was very dark in the hangar bay when they landed inside. And very late. The Captain recognized everyone's weariness, including his own, so he came up with a plan.

"The energy source that supplies the main power to the Base has yet to be turned on, and it will need some coaxing. It's been fifteen years since it was last up and running. We'll have to perform updates on all of the computer systems since they're older than what we're used to. In other words, we've got a lot of work ahead of us. But it's late, and it will be extremely cold inside the Base without the heat source turned on. So let's bunk here in the Jumpship for the night. Get some shut eye and then we'll start setting up in the morning."

"You'll get no argument from me," Tank said with a yawn. "I'll be asleep in less than two seconds."

Hawk shut down the ship's engines and then opened the overhead bins to grab the pillows and blankets. He handed some of them to Tank and Scout, and together they started making beds on the floor of the cargo hold. They would let Jennifer have the bunk so she could be more comfortable.

Jennifer stood up from the Captain's chair. It had been a while since she had moved. Extreme soreness had settled into her battered muscles and her incisions from surgery. She didn't mean to draw attention to herself, but she couldn't help but verbally cry out in pain as she stumbled and bent over in agony.

She would have fallen over if Jonathon had not been there to catch her. "Easy there," he said as he reached for her arms and steadied her. Her face was held in a tight grimace, and it worried him. "You okay?" he asked, his voice dripping with concern. "What's wrong?"

"Guess I got up too fast," she hissed through the pain.

Jonathon placed a hand on her back and gently rubbed soothing circles to try to calm her while intensely studying her face for any signs of the pain letting up. He wanted so badly to take her pain away. "Hawk!" he yelled for assistance.

"Yeah, Captain?" Hawk answered as he rounded the corner. He glanced at Jennifer and didn't need an explanation; he immediately knew what he needed to do. "Time for another dose of pain meds," Hawk said as he grabbed the med kit from the supply area. He quickly filled the syringe and she soon felt the numbing effects of the warm liquid as it penetrated her blood stream.

"Let's get you to bed," Jonathon persuaded as he slowly and gingerly helped her walk to the cargo hold.

Scout, Tank, and Hawk lowered themselves onto the floor, climbed under their blankets and settled in. Tank was right, he was out in seconds.

"I suppose it'll get cold in here without the engines running," Scout noted as he pulled the blankets all the way up to his neck.

That gave Jonathon an idea. "Mentor," he called out. "How about making us a fire?"

"Coming right up, Captain."

A virtual beam shot out of the computer console and centered in on the floor of the cargo hold. A simulated image appeared of a good old-fashioned camp fire. Although it wasn't a real fire, it gave off heat just the same.

"Cozy. Now if we just had virtual marshmallows…" Scout said as he drifted off.

Hawk watched as Jonathon lovingly placed another blanket over Jennifer and gave her a soft, delicate kiss on her forehead. She, too, was already asleep.

Jonathon then bent down to the floor to settle into his bed near Jennifer's bunk in case she needed anything.

"You never tuck me in," Hawk whispered to Jonathon in jest with fake bitterness.

Jonathon grabbed his pillow and threw it hard at Hawk for making that comment. It hit his intended target square in the head. Although it messed up his hair, Hawk took the hit graciously with a goofy grin. "Ow," he said, rubbing his head and smoothing back his hair. "I should have had my power suit on for that one."

"Goodnight, Hawk," Jonathon sternly said, but he couldn't help quietly chuckling anyway as an afterthought of Hawk's jab.

Hawk gently tossed the pillow back at him, still smiling. "'Night Captain."

* * *

><p>Jonathon abruptly woke up in a sweat, his breathing ragged and heart rate elevated. His nightmare tricked him into thinking that Jennifer died inside the Base because he didn't get to her in time. Taking a deep breath, he tried to tell himself that it was just a dream, but his mind was still spinning from the effects of how real it had seemed.<p>

He glanced over at Jennifer's bunk knowing that if he was just able to get a glimpse of her it would calm his nerves. He was surprised to see that the bunk was empty. He immediately looked around the cargo hold. The guys were all sound asleep, but Jennifer was nowhere to be seen.

He didn't want to wake everyone else, but he couldn't shake the alarm going off inside his head that something was wrong. She could barely walk on her own. How did she get out of bed and why? He quickly got up to find out.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he looked around the corner and saw her in the dim of the soft light coming from the radar scanners running their nightly security sweeps. She was sitting in her pilot's seat, holding the controls in her hand. She looked deep in thought. He grabbed a blanket and quietly made his presence known to her.

"What are you doing out of bed? It's cold over here." He placed the blanket around her shoulders and she took it and wrapped it around herself.

"Couldn't sleep," she replied with a tired voice. "What are you doing up?"

"Mmmm. Bad dream," he admitted, rubbing his hand into his forehead trying to erase the memory. "And then I woke up and found you missing. It scared me."

"Sorry…I didn't mean to worry you."

He knelt down to her level and caressed the side of her face. She looked troubled and he wanted to get to the bottom of it to help her. "Why can't you sleep? Those pain meds should have knocked you out. Are you feeling okay?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I just can't stop thinking about something. Have you ever had it where your body wants to fall asleep, but your brain won't shut off?"

"All the time. It comes with the territory of being a Captain."

He thought that she would continue, but she kept silent and just stared ahead.

"Hey…" he whispered, taking her hands off the controls and resting them in her lap, covering them with his own. He wanted a physical connection with her. "What are you thinking about? What's keeping you up?"

She turned to look at him, her eyes reflecting her inner turmoil. "Taggart."

He closed his eyes and let out a sigh. With that one word he understood her distress. Taggart had been on his mind too. Opening his eyes again, he saw she was struggling with the right words to say.

"Do you think it's true?" she finally asked. "That he wants to make things right?"

"I find it hard to believe that he could turn sides so easily. He killed my father and he almost killed you. I don't think I'll ever be able to trust him."

"But I used to be on his side. I've committed unspeakable acts of evil in my past…killed innocent people…yet you trust me…"

He shook his head. "It's different with you."

"Is it?" she countered. "When I was in the Dread Youth, I believed that what I was doing was right. I was proud to serve under his leadership. But then I suddenly realized it was all so very wrong. And I changed. I turned sides and never looked back. Don't you think it's possible that since I was able to change, he could too?"

"Jennifer, Taggart is nothing like you. Even before he became Dread, he was ruthless. He was hungry for control, and he didn't care who he hurt along the way to get to the top. He's selfish. You are the most unselfish person I know. And his beliefs were engrained in you- _forced on you_- ever since you were a child. You were an innocent victim. You were able to turn around because you have always had a genuine, sincere, caring, loving, beautiful human heart that is capable of feeling. Capable of knowing right from wrong. That's why I was able to trust you when we took you in, because you proved that to me. I saw all of those good qualities in you. Taggart has none of those qualities. I don't think he ever will."

"I just…I don't know. He knows who I am; he knows I defected. If I were to cross paths with him I wonder if…if maybe I could help him see somehow. If he's wavering, I could help him to break free. Like how you helped me."

Jonathon shook his head in amazement. "That's one of the many things I love about you. You try to see good in all people. But I can't see any good in Taggart. I've had my chances to try to talk sense into him. My dad tried too and paid for it with his life. Jennifer, trust me when I say Taggart is beyond help. He's evil. Plain and simple. He's taken away enough from both of us as it is. I'm not letting him anywhere near you. He's too volatile and I don't ever want to see you get hurt by him again."

She sat in the still of the moment, mulling over Jon's words and his protectiveness of her.

Sensing that he needed to lighten the mood, he changed the subject. "You know, if it makes you feel any better, you already helped someone today. Tabitha took quite the liking to you," he reminded her.

That brought a smile to Jennifer's face and she nodded in agreement. "Yeah. She did, didn't she! It surprised me. I didn't think I was good with kids, but she was just the sweetest little girl."

"Well I'm not surprised she warmed up to you so easily. I've taken quite the liking to you, too. In fact, I was a bit jealous of Tabitha that she got to cuddle with you and I didn't." He kissed her hand and it made him happy to hear her giggle softly.

"Maybe sometime soon we can rectify that," she replied seductively.

"Soon," he nodded in agreement, his heart skipping a beat at her suggestion.

He closed in slowly and captured her lips with his, taking his time to savor the warmth and the sensation of her. Deepening the kiss, it became a tender, rather intimate moment, and he knew that if he gave it a few seconds longer, he wouldn't be able to stop. Reluctantly he broke away and he realized she felt the same as her wanting gaze penetrated deep into his very soul.

"_Definitely_ soon," he repeated with a grin. "But for now…you need your rest." He tugged on her gently to help her out of the seat. "Come on. Back to bed."

She was disappointed their moment together had ended, but so very tired. "I think I'll be able to sleep now," she told him. "You just gave me something much better to think about!"


End file.
